Non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic responses to nerve stimulation of different regions of the guinea-pig small intestine

Molecular properties of small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels expressed in murine colonic smooth muscle

Small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (SK) channels are important participants in inhibitory neurotransmission in gastrointestinal smooth muscles. Three isoforms of an SK channel family were cloned from murine proximal colon smooth muscle. The transcripts encoding these subunits (SK1, SK2, and SK3) were detected in murine proximal colon and other peripheral tissues. The mRNA of each subunit was expressed at different levels in murine and canine colonic smooth muscles. The mRNA quantitative ratio of SK transcriptional expression in murine proximal colon is SK2 > SK3 > SK1; transcriptional expression of SK isoforms in canine proximal colon is minimal. SK3 immunohistochemical localization in murine small intestine (jejunum) and proximal colon showed immunoreactivity in circular and longitudinal muscularis. In transversely sectioned muscularis, staining was localized at the cell membrane in smooth muscle cells. Immunoreactivity was more intense in myenteric ganglia between longitudinal and circular muscularis and neuronal processes in circular and longitudinal muscularis. Transient expression of mSK1, mSK2, and mSK3 in COS cells resulted in Ca2+-activated voltage-independent channels. mSK1 is less sensitive to apamin compared with SK2 and showed intracellular Ca2+ sensitivity (10(-8) to 10(-6) M) in asymmetrical K+ (5/140 mM K+) gradients. Our results suggest that SK channel expression varies in colonic myocytes from different species and may contribute differentially to inhibitory junction potentials.

Effects of (MET-5) enkephalin on the electrically-evoked mechanical responses in longitudinal and circular strips of the cat terminal ileum

In longitudinal and circular strips from cat terminal ileum field electrical stimulation at a frequency of 2 Hz evoked contractile responses. Stimulation at frequencies of 10 or 30 Hz elicited contractions of the longitudinal muscle and relaxations of the circular strips. (Met-5) enkephalin (1 nM) naloxone-dependently reduced the contractile and increased the inhibitory responses. Atropine (3 microM) converted the contractile responses to slight relaxations and potentiated the inhibitory responses. After atropine (3 microM) and guanethidine (50 microM) both longitudinal and circular strips responded to electrical stimulation with relaxations. In atropine-pretreated strips (Met-5) enkephalin was effective only in the circular strips, increasing the inhibitory responses. In contrast, after atropine and guanethidine (Met-5) enkephalin decreased these inhibitory responses. In unstimulated strips (Met-5) enkephalin failed to change the responses to acetylcholine and noradrenaline. It is concluded that (Met-5) enkephalin reduces the excitatory cholinergic components of the electrically-evoked responses in both longitudinal and circular strips as well as the excitatory adrenergic and the inhibitory non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic components of the responses in the circular strips by acting presynaptically. Demonstration of (Met-5) enkephalin-like immunoreactivity showed immunostaining in nerves of the myenteric plexus and in nerve fibers between the smooth muscle cells suggesting that (Met-5) enkephalin effects could be also of physiological significance.

Possible role of adenosine in the relaxant effect of amrinone on guinea-pig ileum

In isolated segments of guinea-pig ileum, amrinone (0.3 mM-0.3 M) caused a transient contraction followed by a concentration-dependent relaxation. Theophylline (0.1-0.5 mM) mimicked the effects of amrinone but apparently inhibited relaxation induced by the latter. However the total decrease of muscle tension measured in preparations exposed to amrinone before and after theophylline treatment was quantitatively comparable. Dipyridamole (0.1 microM) potentiated the relaxing effect of amrinone. The stimulatory response of the ileum to high concentrations of adenosine (10-50 mM) was abolished by amrinone. In preparations treated with adenosine deaminase (10 U/ml) the basal tone was decreased and both amrinone and theophylline were ineffective. In rat ileum, amrinone exerted a marked relaxing effect that was abolished by adenosine deaminase. Thus amrinone appears to cause relaxation of intestinal smooth muscle from different species by hindering the stimulatory effect of endogenous adenosine. The possible intracellular localization of the amrinone-adenosine interaction site is discussed.

Effect of desensitization induced by adenosine 5'-triphosphate, substance P, bradykinin, serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid and endogenous noncholinergic-nonadrenergic transmitter in the guinea-pig ileum

The cholinergic and noncholinergic-nonadrenergic (NCNA) excitatory and inhibitory responses of the guinea-pig ileum to transmural nerve stimulation (TNS) were studied. Unlike the contraction induced by histamine and acetylcholine the responses to TNS, ATP, substance P, bradykinin, 5-HT and GABA were not sustained. The contraction and its fading during TNS involved the activation of cholinergic, adrenergic and NCNA neurons. Substance P, 5-HT and ATP desensitization resulted in reduction of the excitatory NCNA response whereas that due to bradykinin attenuated both the excitatory and inhibitory NCNA responses. The desensitization against TNS and the potential transmitters studies was selective except in the case of ATP. The present results suggest that it is unlikely that ATP, bradykinin or GABA would be the NCNA transmitters in the guinea-pig ileum. The cross-desensitization between the excitatory NCNA transmitter on the one hand, and substance P (markedly expressed) and 5-HT (slightly expressed) on the other hand, give further evidence in favor of the possible transmitter role of substance P-like peptide in excitatory NCNA transmission and of the role of 5-HT in the activation of NCNA neurons.

Evidence that sensory neurons participate in the non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic contractile response of the guinea-pig ileum

The possible role of non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic (NCNA) nerves in responses of the guinea-pig terminal ileum to transmural nerve stimulation (TNS) and that of sensory nerves in NCNA responses were investigated. The action of acetylcholine was almost abolished in the presence of histamine, whereas the contractions elicited by TNS were changed to frequency-dependent contraction followed by a secondary relaxation. Guanethidine did not alter the contractions or secondary relaxations. Atropine abolished the action of acetylcholine and transiently suppressed the responses to low (up to 2 Hz) and attenuated (by about 50%) those to high (4 to 20 Hz) frequency stimulation. The remaining complex NCNA response was the sum of the excitatory and inhibitory responses. During desensitization to capsaicin, and in its presence, the NCNA contractions were reduced, whereas the relaxations were not significantly enlarged. The present results suggest that besides the cholinergic innervation, the excitatory and inhibitory NCNA innervation also participates in the responses of the guinea-pig ileum to TNS even without suppression of cholinergic and adrenergic transmission, and that the sensory nerves are, at least to some extent, involved in the NCNA excitatory response.

Development of innervation in cat gastrointestinal sphincters during the postnatal period. (Functional studies)

The development of function in the intramural nerves was investigated by evaluating the mechanical responses of the smooth muscle of cat gastrointestinal sphincters to transmural electrical stimulation (2-20 Hz, 0.5 msec, supramaximal intensity for 20 sec) between 1 and 60 days postnatal. The intramural nervous system of the gastrointestinal sphincters was found to develop functionally in a cranio-caudal sequence. The cholinergic innervation in the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) was well developed in the first postnatal days. The development of the non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic innervation, however, proceeded further. An age-determined increase in the amplitude of the adrenoblocker-resistant primary relaxation of LES evoked by switching on the electrical stimulation, was established. The cholinergic innervation in the pyloric sphincter (PS) and ileocecal sphincter (ICS) was developed in the first postnatal days. The non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic innervation appeared in PS between 10- and 15-days postnatal and in ICS between 15- and 60-days postnatal. Noradrenaline (1 mumol) elicited responses typical of adult cats as early as the first postnatal days: contraction in LES and relaxation in PS. In ICS it did not evoke the typical response, contraction, until 15 days after birth.

Purine receptors in the guinea-pig internal anal sphincter

1 In the isolated internal anal sphincter of the guinea-pig, adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and adenosine induced a concentration-dependent and tetrodotoxin-insensitive relaxation. 2 Pretreatment with theophylline (25-50 microM) had no significant effect on the concentration-response curves obtained with either purine compound. 3 Reactive blue 2 (25-100 microM) shifted the curve to ATP to the right in a dose-dependent fashion leaving that to adenosine unaltered. The antagonism appeared to be non-competitive. 4 Neither reactive blue 2 nor purine receptor occupation by ATP or adenosine altered the electrically-induced non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic inhibitory response. 5 The actions of ATP and adenosine in the guinea-pig internal anal sphincter appear to be mediated by separate receptors. These receptors are not involved in the nerve-mediated relaxation.

Role of Ca2+ in non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic responses to nerve stimulation of the guinea-pig small intestine

The effects of calcium channel blockers (D-600, verapamil), sodium nitroprusside, papaverine, indomethacin, local anaesthetics and blockade of sodium pump activity on the non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic transmission in the guinea-pig duodenum, jejunum, proximal and terminal ileum were analysed in the presence of atropine and guanethidine. A decrease of the extracellular Ca2+ concentration inhibited the primary and rebound contractions but only in Ca2+ -free solution was the primary relaxation diminished. D-600, verapamil, sodium nitroprusside and papaverine inhibited both the primary and rebound contractions to the same degree and their effects on the primary relaxation were less pronounced than on the contractions. Indomethacin dissolved in alkaline solution did not depress the non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic responses in any region of the small intestine, whereas indomethacin dissolved in ethanol antagonized both the primary and rebound contractions in the muscles. Local anaesthetics (procaine, trimecaine) in low concentrations inhibited only the primary contraction. Higher concentrations also inhibited both the rebound contraction and primary relaxation. Procaine in low concentrations did not markedly affect the non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic i.j.p.s and e.j.p.s, but did block the action potentials induced by e.j.p.s. Our findings indicate that the primary relaxation, and primary and rebound contractions are probably induced by different mechanisms and are not mediated by ATP. We confirmed that prostaglandins did not participate in the generation of the rebound contraction.