1. The present study was undertaken to investigate firstly whether a brief exposure for 5 min of guinea-pig isolated ileum to the kappa-opioid agonist, U-50,488H produced a withdrawal contracture on addition of naloxone and secondly to ascertain whether the response was due to the activation of kappa-opioid receptors. 2. Naloxone (10(-6) M) did not elicit a response in preparations exposed to U-50,488H (5 x 10(-7) M-2 x 10(-6) M). However, after exposure to U-50,488H (5 x 10(-7) M), naloxone (10(-6) M) produced a strong contracture if the agonist was washed out 1 min before the addition of the antagonist. 3. The addition of naloxone (10(-6) M) to the ileum preparation exposed to U-50,488H (10(-7) M or lower) caused a response of similar intensity irrespective of whether the agonist had been washed out. 4. The selective kappa-opioid antagonist, nor-binaltorphimine (2.7 x 10(-9) M and 2.7 x 10(-7) M), injected before the opioid agonists, prevented the naloxone-induced contracture after exposure to U-50,488H (8 x 10(-8) M) but did not affect the contracture after exposure to morphine (5 x 10(-7) M). 5. Nor-binaltorphimine (2.7 x 10(-9) M) caused a contraction of the ileum preparation when injected 5 min after exposure to U-50,488H (8 x 10(-8) M) but not after morphine (5 x 10(-7) M). 6. The alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist, clonidine (3 x 10-8 M) and the calcium channel blocker, nifedipine(3 x 10-8 M), injected 1 min before naloxone, blocked the ileum contraction to naloxone after exposure to U-50,488H (8 x 10-8 M). The results demonstrate that the stimulation of Kappa-opioid receptors can induce a similar dependence in guinea-pig ileum to that produced by activation of micro receptors.