1. Pyridoxalphosphate-6-azophenyl-2',4'-disulphonic acid (PPADS) was investigated for its ability to act as an antagonist at P2x-purinoceptors which mediate neurogenic excitatory junction potentials (e.j.ps) and contractions in the guinea-pig isolated vas deferens. 2. PPADS (10(-7) M) caused a small potentiation of the phasic, predominantly purinergic component of contractions evoked by symapthetic nerve stimulation, but higher concentrations of PPADS (3 x 10(-6)-3 x 10(-5) M) elicited a substantial and significant concentration-dependent inhibition. In contrast, over the same concentration-range, PPADS had no effect on the tonic, predominantly noradrenergic phase. 3 PPADS (3 x 10(-5) M) also inhibited contractile responses to exogenous alpha,beta-methyleneATP (10(-8)-10(-3)M), a P2x-purinoceptor agonist, without affecting the responses to exogenous noradrenaline (10(-8)-10(-3) M), carbachol (10(-5) M) or histamine (10(-4) M). 4. PPADS (10(-7)-3 x 10(-5) M) produced a concentration-dependent reduction in e.j.p. magnitude and resting membrane potential. The maximum effect was seen at 10(-5) M PPADS, which reduced e.j.p. magnitude from 13.7 +/- 0.6 mV (n = 12) to 1.8 +/- 0.7 mV (n = 12) and membrane potential from -64.8 +/- 0.6 mV (n = 51) to -55.0 +/- 1.8 mV (n = 12). 5. The PPADS-induced depolarization was not inhibited by the P2x-purinoceptor antagonist, suramin (10(-4) M). This indicates that the depolarization was not due to an agonist action of PPADS at P2x-purinoceptors. 6. The results support the proposal that PPADS is a selective antagonist at P2x purinoceptors as opposed to non-P2-purinoceptors in the guinea-pig vas deferens, but its ability to cause membrane depolarization independently of P2x-purinoceptors and also, at a low concentration, to potentiate the phasic component of the neurogenic contraction indicates that it has other actions.