An Electrophysiological Study of Transmission From Intramural Excitatory Nerves to the Smooth Muscle Cells of the Chicken Oesophagus

A fairly large number of papers dealing with the excitatory junction potential evoked by cholinergic nerve stimulation are now available (1-5). However, information about transmission from cholinergic nerves to smooth muscle cells is much less than about transmission from adrenergic nerves. This seems to be because there is no suitable preparation like the hypogastric nerve-vas deferens of the guinea-pig. Most smooth muscle cells previously used have both excitatory and inhibitory innervation and the excitatory response evoked by transmural stimulation may be modified by the inhibitory one.