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British Journal of Pharmacology logoLink to British Journal of Pharmacology
. 1974 Sep;52(1):77–86. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1974.tb09689.x

Muscarinic excitation

A microelectrophoretic study on cultured smooth muscle cells

RD Purves
PMCID: PMC1776964  PMID: 4476228

Abstract

1 Acetylcholine was applied iontophoretically to smooth muscle cells cultured from taeniae coli of new-born guinea-pigs. Responses were recorded with intracellular microelectrodes.

2 Acetylcholine induced depolarization, spike generation and contraction. Large conductance increases could be measured during the action of acetylcholine.

3 Injection of depolarizing currents through the recording electrode reversed the sign of potential responses. The reversal potential was -5 to -25 mV.

4 Minimum latencies of responses to acetylcholine were 120-500 ms. These values were not attributable to diffusion time.

5 Attention is drawn to the long latencies of a variety of muscarinic responses, and the suggestion made that muscarinic mechanisms as a class may be characterized by a long activation time.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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