Nerve—Muscle Preparations of Genito-Urinary Muscle (Other Than Vas Deferens)

Abstract

Nerve—muscle preparations of other smooth muscles in the genito-urinary tract have been studied less extensively than those of the vas deferens. One reason is that, unlike the vas deferens, these other muscles usually show considerable spontaneous, myogenic activity. It is assumed that neural influences modulate rather than initiate this activity so that the effects of nerve stimulation are more subtle and therefore more difficult to analyze than in the vas deferens. Another reason is that the innervation density, determined histochemically and biochemically (Labay et al., 1970; Marshall, 1970), is considerably less in genito-urinary muscles other than the vas deferens. Thus the electrophysiological investigations of neuroeff’ector transmission at the cellular level are often more ambiguous and less predictable in the former muscles. Nevertheless, studies on nerve-muscle preparations from a variety of smooth muscles are of importance not only from a comparative pharmacological viewpoint, but also as a contribution to a better understanding of the role of the nervous system in the control and regulation of smooth muscle in general.