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Slow excitatory synaptic potentials evoked by distension in myenteric descending interneurones of guinea-pig ileum

P. D. J. Thornton and J. C. Bornstein

The functional significance of the slow excitatory synaptic potentials (EPSPs) in myenteric neurones is unknown. We investigated this using intracellular recording from myenteric neurones in guinea-pig ileum, in vitro. In all, 121 neurones responded with fast EPSPs to distension of the intestine oral to the recording site. In 28 of these neurones, distension also evoked depolarizations similar to the slow EPSPs evoked by electrical stimulation in the same neurones. Intracellular injection of biocytin and immunohistochemistry revealed that neurones responding to distension with slow EPSPs were descending interneurones, which were immunoreactive for nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Other neurones, including inhibitory motor neurones and interneurones lacking NOS, did not respond to distension with slow EPSPs, but many had slow EPSPs evoked electrically. Slow EPSPs evoked electrically or by distension in NOS-immunoreactive descending interneurones were resistant to blockade of NK₁ or NK₃ tachykinin receptors (SR 140333, 100 nM; SR 142801, 100 nM, respectively) and group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (PHCCC, 10-30 µM), when the antagonists were applied in the recording chamber of a two-chambered organ bath. However, slow EPSPs evoked electrically in inhibitory motor neurones were substantially depressed by SR 140333 (100 nM). Blockade of synaptic transmission in the stimulation chamber of the organ bath abolished slow EPSPs evoked by distension, indicating that they arose from activity in interneurones, and not from anally directed, intrinsic sensory neurones. Thus, distension evokes slow EPSPs in a subset of myenteric neurones, which may be important for intestinal motility.

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