The results suggest that charybdotoxin-sensitive, but iberiotoxin-insensitive, K+ channels are activated by stimulation with norepinephrine and electrical field stimulation to counteract the adrenergic-induced contractions of human vas deferens. Thus, inhibition of these channels increases significantly the contraction, an effect that appears to be mediated by an increase in Ca2+ entry through L-type voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels.