The formation of synapses in mammalian sympathetic ganglia reinnervated with preganglionic or somatic nerves

1. A study has been made of the formation of synapses in the superior cervical ganglion of the guinea-pig, during reinnervation either with axons of the cervical sympathetic trunk, or with somatic axons of the nerve to the sternohyoid muscle.2. No significant changes in either the geometry or electrical parameters of sympathetic motorneurones were detected following denervation for periods of 3-6 weeks, or after reinnervation with either preganglionic or somatic axons.3. The post-ganglionic action potential reappeared about 4 weeks after preganglionic trunk section (eighteen of eighteen ganglia); its amplitude increased progressively and was almost normal by more than 10 weeks after nerve section. A very small response was detected from thirteen of eighteen ganglia after periods longer than 8 weeks after cross-reinnervation with somatic axons.4. Regenerated preganglionic or somatic nerve terminals were demonstrated around the ganglion cells using ZIO impregnation and electron-microscopy; the structure of these terminals was unchanged following regeneration into the ganglia, although many more synapses were formed by preganglionic terminals than by somatic terminals.5. The facilitation of evoked synaptic potentials which occurs during repetitive stimulation of preganglionic axons was retained following their regeneration, whereas most synapses formed on ganglion cells by regenerating somatic axons showed facilitation of transmitter release during trains of stimuli, rather than the normal depression.6. These observations suggest that the structure and electrical properties of adult mammalian autonomic motorneurones are not under neural control, but that these neurones do show some selectivity in the type of nerve which they will permit to form synapses on them.     

Presynaptic inhibition produced by histamine at nicotinic synapses in enteric ganglia

Intracellular methods were used to record fast excitatory postsynaptic potentials in myenteric neurons of the guinea-pig small intestine in vitro. The excitatory postsynaptic potentials were suppressed by hexamethonium, mimicked by acetylcholine and assumed to be mediated by nicotinic cholinergic receptors. Application of histamine either by addition to the superfusion solution or by focal application from fine-tipped pipettes reversibly reduced the amplitude or abolished the excitatory postsynaptic potentials. Postsynaptic responses to focal application of acetylcholine by pressure ejection from micropipettes were either unaffected or were potentiated by histamine. Failure of histamine to affect antidromic action potentials excluded a local anesthetic action on the presynaptic fibers. Neither 2-methylhistamine nor dimaprit, which are selective H1 and H2 agonists respectively, suppressed the excitatory postsynaptic potentials when applied in concentrations nearly one hundred times greater than the ED50 for histamine. The selective H1 and H2 antagonists, pyrilamine and cimetidine did not suppress the inhibitory action of histamine when applied separately or in combination. Based on these results, the presynaptic receptors involved in this inhibitory mechanism appeared to be of a pharmacologically atypical histamine receptor subtype. The putative histamine agonist, N,alpha-methylhistamine, which has been reported to have high stereoselectivity and activity for a receptor subtype classified as H3, potently reduced or abolished the excitatory postsynaptic potentials. The ED50 for N,alpha-methylhistamine was 8.8 nM compared to an ED50 of 220 nM for histamine. Burimamide, a histamine antagonist with higher activity at putative H3 receptors than H2 receptors, effectively reversed the inhibitory action of histamine on the excitatory postsynaptic potentials.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Neuroaxonal dystrophy in aging human sympathetic ganglia.

Autonomic dysfunction is an increasingly recognized problem in aging animals and man. The pathologic changes that produce autonomic dysfunction in human aging are largely unknown; however, in experimental animal models specific pathologic changes have been found in selected sympathetic ganglia. To address whether similar neuropathologic changes occur in aging humans, the authors have examined paravertebral and prevertebral sympathetic ganglia from a series of 56 adult autopsied nondiabetic patients. They found significant, specific, age-related neuropathologic lesions in the prevertebral sympathetic superior mesenteric ganglia of autopsied patients. Markedly swollen dystrophic preterminal axons compressed or displaced the perikarya of principal sympathetic neurons. Ultrastructurally, these swollen presynaptic axons contained abundant disoriented neurofilaments surrounded by peripherally marginated dense core vesicles. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated that dystrophic axons contained tyrosine hydroxylase and neuropeptide tyrosine (NPY)-like immunoreactivity but not other neuropeptides (VIP, substance P, gastrin-releasing peptide [GRP]/bombesin, met-enkephalin). Similar to the animal models of aging, lesions were much more frequent in the prevertebral superior mesenteric ganglia than in the paravertebral superior cervical ganglia. These studies demonstrate anatomic, peptidergic, and pathologic specificity in the aging human nervous system similar in many respects to that which the authors have described in experimental animal models. Neuroaxonal dystrophy in the sympathetic nervous system may underlie poorly understood alterations in clinical autonomic nervous system function that develop with age.     

Bombesin-like immunoreactivity in sympathetic ganglia

Nerve fibres showing immunoreactivity for bombesin have been observed in prevertebral sympathetic ganglia of the rat and guinea-pig. The distribution of bombesin immunoreactive fibres was compared with the distribution of the structurally-related peptide substance P. Dense networks of varicose bombesin immunoreactive fibres were observed, and in the rat coeliac ganglion the density exceeded that of the substance P immunoreactive fibres. Extracts of rat and guinea-pig coeliac ganglion contained material cross-reacting in radioimmunoassays for bombesin tetradecapeptide. Similar concentrations of bombesin and substance P were found in the guinea-pig ganglion, whereas in the rat the concentration of bombesin was about 20 times as high as that of substance P. Two molecular forms of immunoreactive bombesin were identified, neither of which corresponded exactly to synthetic bombesin. The two components were also distinguishable from synthetic substance P. A potential role of a bombesin-like peptide in neural pathways between the gut and prevertebral ganglia is suggested.     

Dual effects of hemicholinium-3 at central cholinergic synapses.

1. Hemicholinium-3 (HC-3) has at least two presynaptic effects at cholinergic synapses between motor acon collaterals and spinal Renshaw cells, neither of which influenced non-cholinergic excitatory synapses on dorsal horn interneurones. 2. One, which occurred independently of repetitive activity of the synapses and which resulted in increased latency of synaptic excitation, presumably involved changes in the properties of presynaptic fibres and terminals which influenced transmitter release. 3. The other, which depended on continuous repetitive synaptic activity, was consistent with depletion by HC-3 of presynaptic stores of acetylcholine (ACh).     

The effects of calcium ions on the binomial parameters that control acetylcholine release during trains of nerve impulses at amphibian neuromuscular synapses.

1. A study has been made of the effects of changing the external calcium concentration [Ca](o) on the binomial parameters p and n that control the average quantal content (m) of the end-plate potential (e.p.p.) during trains of nerve impulses at synapses in amphibian striated muscle.2. In high external calcium concentrations (0.4 mM 相似文献   

The formation of synapses between chick embryo skeletal muscle and ciliary ganglia grown in vitro.

1. Chick embryo ciliary ganglia (explanted) and skeletal muscle (dissociated) were grown together in vitro for up to 3 weeks. Nerve processes sprouted from the ganglia and contacted neighbouring myotubes and striated muscle fibres. 2. Spontaneous action potentials and subthreshold e.p.p.s. were recorded from muscle fibres with intracellular micropipettes. Similar potentials could be evoked by electrical stimulation of the ganglion. The pharmacological effects of curare and tetrodotoxin were identical to those observed at adult vertebrate neuromuscular junctions. 3. The amplitude, but not the frequency, of the spontaneous potentials was affected by changing the muscle fibre membrane potential. The reversal potential of evoked synaptic potentials occurred at a membrane potential of about 0 mV.     

Depolarization-dependent protein phosphorylation in rat cortical synaptosomes: the effects of calcium, strontium and barium

Infusion of 120 nmol quinolinic acid into several regions of the rat's brain revealed differences in vulnerability to its neurotoxic effects, as judged by light microscopical analysis. The striatum, the pallidal formation and the hippocampus were the most susceptive brain areas whereas the cerebellum, substantia nigra, amygdala, medial septum and hypothalamus proved more resistant.