Properties of junction potentials in gastric smooth muscle of the rat.

In isolated smooth muscles of the rat stomach, the properties of electrical responses of the membrane elicited by transmural nerve stimulation were studied. The smooth muscle membranes were quiescent in the fundus and spontaneously active with slow waves and often action potentials superimposed on top of the slow wave in the antrum and pylorus. The maximum membrane potentials were larger in the antrum (-50 to -55 mV) than in the fundus (-40 to -45 mV). Transmural nerve stimulation elicited an excitatory junction potential (e.j.p.) which was followed by an inhibitory junction potential (i.j.p.) in the fundus, and an i.j.p. alone in the antrum. The e.j.p. was inhibited by atropine, indicating that this potential was cholinergic in nature. The amplitude of the e.j.p. was increased by apamin or nitroarginine, and the latter was more potent than the former. The i.j.p. was inhibited by apamin or nitroarginine, and was resistant to adrenergic and cholinergic blocking agents, and therefore this potential was non-adrenergic non-cholinergic (NANC) in nature. The inhibitory actions of nitroarginine on the i.j.p. were antagonized by L-arginine, suggesting the involvement of nitric oxide (NO) in this junctional transmission. The results indicate that smooth muscles of the rat stomach receive cholinergic excitatory and NANC inhibitory nerves, and that endogenous NO may either be partly responsible for the generation of the i.j.p. or may modulate the junctional transmissions.