Differentiation of the action potential in the smooth muscle of canine gastric antrum using calcium-inhibitory drugs.

Electrical and mechanical activity were recorded simultaneously in smooth muscle preparations from the antrum region of canine stomach by means of a single sucrose gap technique (SGT). The SGT was optimized to permit stable recording from multicellular smooth muscle preparations over several hours of electrical and mechanical activity with little disturbance of their normal properties. Acetylcholine (ACh, 10(-8) to 10(-6) M) induced or augmented dose-dependently the electrical and mechanical activity. The plateau of the action potential complex was elevated by ACh, while the contraction was increased in linear correlation to the magnitude of the plateau component. In spontaneously active (or in ACh-stimulated) preparations TEA (5 to 20 mM) magnified the plateau component, induced or strengthened spikes on the plateau ('secondary spikes'), and induced or strengthened phasic contractions. Nifedipine (10(-6) M) abolished secondary spikes, part of the plateau component of the action potential, and suppressed mechanical activity. The complex action potential of canine gastric antrum can be differentiated into (a) a basic action potential, consisting of an initial, primary spike and a plateau depolarization; this basic action potential is resistant to nifedipine and does not trigger any mechanical activity; and (b) a nifedipine-sensitive component (calcium component), which consists of an augmentation of the plateau depolarization and of secondary spikes, and which is responsible for the initiation of mechanical activity.