Vagal afferent discharge from gastric mechanoreceptors during contraction and relaxation of the ferret corpus.
Vagal afferent fibres with mechanoreceptive fields in the gastric corpus were studied electrophysiologically in the urethane-anaesthetized ferret in an attempt to assess how changes in muscle tension and length modulate receptor discharge. Single afferent units were spontaneously active and increased their firing on distension of the corpus. During vagally evoked isovolumetric contractions and relaxations, the afferent discharge closely followed changes in intracorpus pressure. Under near-isotonic conditions, changes in both intracorpus pressure and afferent discharge were attenuated to similar degrees despite large changes in corpus volume, although the latter had a modulating influence on afferent discharge. These mechanoreceptors appeared to behave as tension receptors but were also influenced by muscle length as would occur if the receptor were associated with the laminar intramuscular septa of connective tissue which may serve as intramuscular tendons in this tissue.
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002335:Carnivora / Q000502:physiology*; D005289:Ferrets / Q000502:physiology*; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D011312:Pressure; D013270:Stomach / Q000294:innervation* / Q000502:physiology; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*