Barr L, Berger W, Dewey M M
J Gen Physiol. 1968 Mar;51(3):347-68. doi: 10.1085/jgp.51.3.347.
The hypothesis that nexuses between cells are responsible for the core conductor properties of tissues was tested using smooth muscle preparations from the taenia coli of guinea pigs. Action potentials recorded from small diameter preparations across a sucrose gap change from monophasic to diphasic when a shunt resistor is connected across the gap. This indicates that transmission between smooth muscle cells is electrical, because the resistor only allows current to flow. Nexal fusion of cell membranes occurs especially where one cell sends a large bulbous projection into a neighbor. Hypertonic solutions rupture the nexuses between smooth muscle cells. Hypertonicity also increases the resistance of a bundle across the sucrose gap and blocks propagation of action potentials. Thus the structural and functional changes in smooth muscle due to hypertonicity correlate with the hypothesis.
利用豚鼠结肠带的平滑肌制备物，对细胞间连接负责组织核心传导特性这一假说进行了验证。当在蔗糖间隙上连接一个分流电阻时，从小直径制备物上通过蔗糖间隙记录到的动作电位会从单相变为双相。这表明平滑肌细胞之间的传递是电传递，因为电阻只允许电流通过。细胞膜的连接融合尤其发生在一个细胞向相邻细胞发出大的球状突起的地方。高渗溶液会破坏平滑肌细胞之间的连接。高渗性还会增加一束组织通过蔗糖间隙的电阻，并阻断动作电位的传播。因此，高渗引起的平滑肌结构和功能变化与该假说相关。
