title: Sympathetic neuromuscular transmission at a varicosity in a syncytium.
abstract: The autonomic neuromuscular junction at a varicosity in the vas deferens is defined by the localization of the vesicle-associated protein syntaxin in high concentrations in the axolemma and a high density of P2x1 receptors in a cluster beneath the varicosity. Calcium fluxes have been observed in all individual varicosities of a nerve terminal on the arrival of an impulse even though recordings made from these varicosities of the electrical signs of transmission with loose-patch electrodes over the varicosities show that they have very different probabilities for the secretion of a quantum. The fact that some varicosities seldom release a quantum on the arrival of an impulse is supported by the observation that antibodies against the N-terminus of synaptotagmin, which uniquely label the inside of synaptic vesicles when they undergo exocytosis, fail to do so in some varicosities during nerve stimulation whereas they do in others. It is suggested that the probability for secretion from a varicosity depends on the number of secretosomes that the varicosity possesses, where a secretosome is a complex of syntaxin, synaptotagmin, an N-type calcium channel, and a synaptic vesicle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Institute for Biomedical Research, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia. maxb@physiol.usyd.edu.au
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Brain
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D015726:Giant Cells / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018048:Receptors, Purinergic P2 / Q000032:analysis; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D014649:Vas Deferens / Q000294:innervation*
chemical_list: D015220:Calcium Channels; D018048:Receptors, Purinergic P2; D002118:Calcium