In vitro relation between preganglionic sympathetic stimulation and activity of cutaneous glands in the bullfrog

Abstract

1. Activation of cutaneous glands was studied by measuring changes in transepithelial potentiation (TEP) after pre- and postganglionic sympathetic stimulation in the bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana. 2. In normal Ringer solution, TEP was 20-90 mV with the basolateral (inside) surface positive. Single shocks to the preganglionic B pathway decreased TEP by up to 3 mV. Cutaneous depolarizations had a latency of 1.2 s, a rise time of 2.5 s, and decayed with an exponential time constant of 15 s. Similar depolarizations were evoked by postganglionic stimulation. 3. Cutaneous depolarizations summed during repetitive stimulation and > 0.05 Hz. For trains of three stimuli, peak amplitude increased with frequency and saturated at 2 Hz. In some preparations, longer trains evoked polyphasic changes in TEP. Preganglionically evoked cutaneous responses were abolished by (+)-tubocurarine. Postganglionically evoked cutaneous depolarizations were antagonized by phentolamine, but not propranolol. 4. Repetitive preganglionic stimulation of the C pathway (> 100 at 20 Hz) evoked little change in TEP and did not modulate depolarizations evoked through the B pathway. In nicotine, peptidergic cotransmission was enhanced in the ganglia, and repetitive C pathway stimulation evoked cutaneous depolarizations whose time course mirrored that of the postganglionic peptidergic after-discharge. The after-discharge and associated cutaneous depolarization were blocked by a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone antagonist. 5. The results show cutaneous glands are selectively innervated by B neurones and respond to low levels of neural activity. Asynchronous postganglionic firing mediated by peptidergic cotransmission can provide a basis for heterosynaptic interactions between the B and C pathways.