The structures of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and body circular muscle (BCM) from opossum were compared as to neural and muscular structures and the structural relations of interstitial cells of Cajal to nerves and muscle cells. Both LES and BCM were densely innervated by nerves with varicosities containing many small agranular vesicles and a few large granular vesicles. These nerves were more closely related structurally to the interstitial cells of Cajal than to smooth muscle cells. More gap junctions were observed between smooth muscle cells and between interstitial cells of Cajal and smooth muscle cells in BCM than in LES. Those between smooth muscle cells were larger in BCM. Complete relaxation of the LES strip by isoproterenol reduced these differences but did not eliminate them. The finding that interstitial cells of Cajal often had gap-junction contacts to smooth muscle and close associations with nerves is consistent with the hypothesis that interstitial cells are intercalated between the nerves and muscles and may mediate nerve responses. These findings also suggest that LES muscle cells may be less well coupled electrically than BCM muscle cells.
Morphometric measurements at the electron microscope level were carried out on three categories of mesenteric arteries representing elastic (superior mesenteric), muscular and arteriolar vessels, from 10- to 12-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and age-matched Wistar-Kyoto normotensive rats (WKY). Changes were observed only in muscular and arteriolar vessels of SHR, mainly as thickening of the vessel wall due to hypertrophy of the media. In muscular arteries, hypertrophy of the endothelial cells, widening of the subendothelial space, increased volume of the internal elastic lamina (IEL), and both hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the smooth muscle cells (SMC) in the media contributed to the wall thickening. In arteriolar vessels, increase in the subendothelial space and IEL, and hyperplasia of the SMC in the media were involved in the increased thickness of the vessel wall. There was no difference in the collagen content in all vessels, but elastin was increased in the muscular and arteriolar vessels of SHR. Nerve density was also increased in arteriolar vessels of SHR. These changes, especially the increase of SMC in muscular and arteriolar vessels, may be related to the elevated blood pressure in SHR.
The ionic mechanisms by which nitric oxide (NO) or a related compound mediates the inhibitory junction potentials (IJPs) of the opossum esophageal circular smooth muscle were studied using microelectrodes and double sucrose gap. The NO donors, 3-morpholino-sydnonimine hydrochloride and sodium nitroprusside, induced 15- to 20-mV hyperpolarizations that reversed near the potassium equilibrium potential as did the IJPs. They inhibited the IJPs and decreased electrotonic potentials (increased conductance) even during restoration of the resting membrane potential by application of depolarizing current. Quinine was more efficacious than apamin in inhibiting the IJPs or NO donor hyperpolarizations, whereas the other K+ channel blockers tested (tetraethylammonium, charybdotoxin, 4-aminopyridine, Cs+, and glibenclamide) were without effect. Glibenclamide abolished the hyperpolarizing effects of the K+ channel opener BRL-34915. Low Cl- Krebs (isethionate substitutions) caused hyperpolarizations, increased electrotonic potentials, and reduced IJPs. The neural blockers, tetrodotoxin, omega-conotoxin GVIA, and N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, inhibited IJPs but not the responses to NO donors, indicating a postjunctional effect. Methylene blue and cystamine, soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitors, suppressed IJPs and responses to NO donors. We conclude that NO mediates esophageal IJPs, which depend on guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate elevation and activation of quinine- and apamin-sensitive K+ channels.
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