Summary
Autonomic ganglia (paravertebral sympathetic and ciliary) formed functional junctions in tissue culture with heart muscle or with smooth muscle of the iris sphincter pupillae, vas deferens or taenia coli. Stimulation of the ganglia after 3–14 daysin vitro evoked contractions of the smooth muscle and either excitatory or inhibitory responses in the heart muscle. Hyoscine abolished contractile responses of smooth muscle in the iris—sympathetic ganglia, vas deferens—ciliary ganglia and taenia coli—ciliary ganglia combinations, and blocked the inhibitory response in the heart—sympathetic ganglia combination, indicating that in these cases the innervation was cholinergic.
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Purves, R.D., Hill, C.E., Chamley, J.H. et al. Functional autonomic neuromuscular junctions in tissue culture. Pflugers Arch. 350, 1–7 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00586734
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00586734