On the role of muscarinic and peptidergic receptors in ganglionic transmission in bullfrogs in vivo.

Synaptic activity of individual B and C cells in the paravertebral sympathetic ganglia of urethan-anesthetized bullfrogs was monitored with intracellular electrodes. Postganglionic activity from the B and C fiber populations was monitored with suction electrodes. Intravenous infusion of muscarine (0.1 ml of 8 microM) excited individual B cells and increased the amplitude and rate of spontaneous, postganglionic B fiber population discharges. Muscarine also increased the number of action potentials (APs) within each burst of synaptic activity in individual C cells. Because atropine (0.1 ml of 0.1 microM) had little or no effect on postganglionic population B or C fiber activity, the muscarinic slow inhibitory postsynaptic potentials and slow excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) are unlikely to be involved in the transmission, modulation, or integration of postganglionic outflow in vivo. Atropine did, however, decrease the number of APs per burst in individual C cells, an effect that could be explained if excitatory presynaptic muscarinic receptors exist on C fiber terminals. Stimulation of preganglionic C fibers at "physiological" frequencies evoked a lasting afterdischarge in postganglionic B fibers that was blocked by a combination of atropine and [D-pyro-Glu1,D-Phe2,D-Trp3,6]-luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH). Release of LHRH from C fiber terminals and activation of the peptidergic, late-slow EPSP mechanism in B cells may therefore play a role in ganglionic transmission in vivo.