Pathophysiological processes in the viscera can lead to pain and hyperalgesia and exaggerated motility-regulating reflexes. This may be due to sensitisation of visceral afferents (peripheral sensitisation), which has repeatedly been shown to occur as a consequence of e.g. inflammation, and/or to sensitisation of dorsal horn neurones (central sensitisation), which is less well documented in the visceral domain. As an indicator of peripheral sensitisation, we previously analysed the responses of sacral spinal afferents after inflammation of the urinary bladder. Here, we studied reflexes in sympathetic vasoconstrictor neurones supplying skeletal muscle and skin elicited by bladder distension stimuli (vesico-sympathetic reflexes) before and after induction of bladder inflammation. Our aim was to test whether these vesico-sympathetic reflexes are amplified after inflammation in a way that would support a major functional role for post-inflammatory central sensitisation processes. Bladder inflammation was induced in anaesthetised cats by instillation of turpentine or mustard oil and vesico-sympathetic reflexes were studied 1 and 2 h after induction of the inflammation. Inflammation enhanced on-going activity in vasoconstrictor neurones supplying skeletal muscle (after 1 h to 187.6+/-36.8%, mean+/-SEM, P<0.01, and after 2 h to 139.1+/-12.9%, P<0.05, of baseline activity) and decreased it in most sympathetic neurones supplying skin (to 91.7+/-12.5%, P>0.05, and to 71.6+/-11.3%, P<0.05, respectively, of baseline activity). Relative to the altered baseline activity vesico-sympathetic reflexes to graded distension of the inflamed bladder were quantitatively unchanged with a tendency to be diminished. Thus, the changes in on-going sympathetic vasoconstrictor activity and the distension-evoked reflexes directly mirrored the afferent input from the inflamed urinary bladder into the spinal cord, i.e. no increase of the gain of these reflexes was observed. These results suggest that in the first 2 h of inflammation, peripheral sensitisation processes play the main role for hyperalgesia and hyperreflexia of the urinary bladder. In contrast, central sensitisation appears to be of little importance during this time period.