1. 6-Bromo-8-methylaminoimidazol[1,2-a]pyrazine-2carbonitrile (SCA 40) has been claimed to induce relaxation in guinea-pig trachea by opening high conductance, calcium-activated potassium (BKCa) channels. The mechanism of action of SCA 40 has now been further investigated in ring preparations from cryopreserved human airway and vascular smooth muscle preparations in vitro. 2. Human bronchi with spontaneous tone relaxed in response to SCA 40 in a biphasic way. A high affinity component (pD2 8.61 +/- 0.21; mean +/- s.e.mean) accounted for 30% of the response and a low affinity component (pD2 6.53 +/- 0.14) for the remaining 70%. In contrast, in bronchi contracted with carbachol, 1 microM, the concentration-response curve to SCA 40 was monophasic and yielded a pD2 of 6.31 +/- 0.29. 3. SCA 40 relaxed pulmonary and mesenteric arteries and peripheral veins which had been precontracted by 10 nM U46619 nearly completely and in a monophasic way; the pD2 values were 6.37 +/- 0.08, 6.17 +/- 0.15 and 5.45 +/- 0.25, respectively. 4. Lemakalim, an opener of ATP-dependent potassium (KATP) channels, also relaxed human bronchi under spontaneous tone and the vascular tissues. NS 1619, a recognised opener of BKca channels, was inactive up to 10 microM on bronchial and vascular tissues. 5. The SCA 40-induced relaxation of human bronchi was reduced concentration-dependently in the presence of high potassium chloride (20 and 80 mM). However, in the presence of 80 mM KCl and nifedipine, 30 nM, SCA 40 fully relaxed the remaining contractile response with pD2 values of 8.08 +/- 0.13 and 5.27 +/- 0.13 for the high and low affinity component, respectively. 6. Relaxation responses to SCA 40 in human bronchi were resistant to blockade by glibenclamide at concentrations up to 10 microM (which blocked the relaxant response to lemakalim), quinine (30 microM), apamin (100 nM), tetraethylammonium (0.1-1 mM) and charybdotoxin (10-100 nM), thus excluding the involvement of a variety of K+ channels including KATP and KCa channels. 7. In bronchi contracted with carbachol, 1 microM, the nature of the interaction between SCA 40 and the beta 2-adrenoceptor agonist, salbutamol, was synergistic. 8. These experiments establish that SCA 40 is a potent relaxant of human bronchial smooth muscle manifesting spontaneous tone. A low affinity relaxant component has its counterpart in the relaxation seen in both human arterial and venous smooth muscle. The consensus of the evidence suggests that K+ channel opening is not the basis of the relaxant response to SCA 40. Furthermore, BKCa channels appear to be of minor importance in the regulation of human airway smooth muscle tone. Our data suggest that inhibition of an adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate phosphodiesterase may contribute, at least to the low affinity relaxant component of SCA 40. However, the exact mechanism mediating the SCA 40-induced relaxation of human airways remains to be defined.