The effects of neuropeptide Y (NPY), sigma ligand (JO 1784) and sulfated cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK8s) on emotional stress (ES) and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)-induced colonic hypermotility were evaluated in rats equipped with chronically implanted electrodes on the colon and a small catheter into the lateral ventricle of the brain. A 139% (97-172%) increase in colonic spike burst frequency was observed in rats placed in a test cage in which they had previously received electric footshocks, an event assimilated to an ES. Intracerebroventricular injection of CRH (0.5 microgram/kg) mimicked the effects of ES by increasing colonic spike burst frequency by 89.0%. Given i.c.v., both JO 1784 (0.1 microgram/kg) and NPY (0.15 microgram/kg) blocked these stimulatory effects. Similarly, i.c.v. administration of CCK8s (0.1 microgram/kg) abolished both ES and CRH stimulated colonic motility, an effect reproduced by central injection of JMV 180, a cholecystokinin (CCK) derivative with high affinity for CCKA receptors, (1 microgram/kg), but not by JMV 170, a CCK derivative with low affinity for CCKA receptor at similar or higher dose. BMY 14802 (a sigma receptor antagonist) injected s.c. (1 mg/kg) abolished the antagonistic effects of JO 1784 and NPY on the ES-induced colonic hyperkinesia. Injected i.c.v., devazepide (L 364,718), a CCKA receptor antagonist, at 0.1 and 1 microgram/kg, abolished the effect of both JO 1784 and NPY; by contrast L365,260, a CCKB antagonist, required a dose of 10 micrograms/kg to block the antagonistic effect of NPY and JO 1784.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)