ARTICLE

A CHOLINERGIC COMPONENT IN THE INNERVATION OF THE LONGITUDINAL SMOOTH MUSCLE OF THE GUINEA PIG VAS DEFERENS

Peter M. Robinson ¹

¹ From the Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The author's present address is the Department of Histology, University of Melbourne

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) has been detected on the plasma membrane of about 25% of the axons in the longitudinal smooth muscle tissue of guinea pig vas deferens. These axons are presumably cholinergic. No enzyme was detected in the remaining 75% of axons. These axons are presumably adrenergic. The plasma membrane of the Schwann cells associated with the cholinergic axons also stained for AChE. Some axon bundles contained only cholinergic or adrenergic axons while others contained both types of axon. When a cholinergic axon approached within 1100 A of a smooth muscle cell, there was a patch of AChE activity on the muscle membrane adjacent to the axon. It is suggested that these approaches are the points of effective transmission from cholinergic axons to smooth muscle cells. Butyrylcholinesterase activity was detected on the plasma membranes of all axons and smooth muscle cells in this tissue.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents