Membrane potential and mechanical responses of the opossum esophagus to vagal stimulation and swallowing.

Studies were performed in anesthetized opossums. The electrical changes, recorded using a suction electrode applied to the outside of the esophagus, and mechanical activity, recorded by an intraluminal catheter, were monitored from 5 cm above the lower esophageal sphincter. Swallowing was associated with membrane hyperpolarization followed by depolarization and spike burst. Electrical stimulation of the decentralized vagus also caused a prompt hyperpolarization followed by an overshoot depolarization. Single pulses of stimulation caused primarily hyperpolarization. The amplitude and duration of hyperpolarization increased with increasing frequencies of vagal stimulation. Spike burst occurred as the membrane potential was recovering from the peak hyperpolarization and moving toward peak depolarization. The latency of onset of spike burst decreased with increasing frequency of vagal stimulation. The muscle contraction occurred after a latency. The latency of contractions, like the latency of spike burst, decreased with increased frequency of vagal stimulation. These studies show that (a) membrane hyperpolarization is present during the latent period of contraction associated with swallowing, suggesting that swallow-induced esophageal response may be mediated by vagal inhibitory pathway to the esophagus and (b) spike bursts can be temporally dissociated from depolarization by changing the vagal stimulation frequency, suggesting that spike burst and depolarization may be mediated by different excitatory mechanisms.