The effects of inhibition and stimulation of the electrogenic Na pump and of altering the ionic environment on the electrical control activity (ECA) were studied in rabbit jejunal smooth muscle. Pump inhibition abolished the ECA at a time when the membrane potential was more negative than the peak depolarization of the control potential (CP). Pump stimulation hyperpolarized the membrane and CP's appeared. Their amplitude was initially small and progressively increased as the hyperpolarization subsided. Lowering external Na to 20 mM or Ca withdrawal, but not addition of verapamil, reversibly abolished the ECA. Chloride replacement by propionate, isethionate, or benzene-sulphonate caused a transient augmentation, followed by suppression of the secondary depolarization of the CP's and decreased their frequency. The initial depolarization of the CP was little affected. Nitrate substitution increased CP frequency and spiking activity but had no observable effects on the CP configuration. These results suggest that the intestinal control potential may result from conductance changes initially to Na and later to C1 rather than fron an oscillatory electrogenic pump.

Simultaneous recording of electrical activities from the circular and longitudinal muscle layers of the pig colon was performed in vitro to study possible coordination of activities. The electrical activity of both muscle layers consisted of electrical oscillations with superimposed spikes. The frequency range of the electrical oscillations in the circular muscle was 0.5-3.5 cycles per minute (cpm) and in the longitudinal muscle 24-42 cpm. Coordination of the activities of both muscle layers occurred consistently only after stretch or cholinergic stimulation. Then it occurred in a unique fashion. Each oscillation in the circular muscle layer occurred at the same time as the onset of a burst of oscillations in the longitudinal muscle. In addition, multiple simultaneous recordings of the electrical activities from each muscle layer were obtained showing that within the circular muscle layer electrical oscillations were phase locked in the circumferential direction and along the long axis of the colon. They appeared to propagate in either the oral or aboral direction. In tetrodotoxin (with stretch as stimulus) and also in presence of carbachol, bursts of oscillations in the longitudinal muscle layer were phase locked circumferentially (in the different taeniae) and longitudinally. This study shows that the muscle layers in the colon, which have different myogenic electrical activities, can obtain a high level of coordination.