Cholinergic–Adrenergic Presynaptic Interactions in the Heart and Characterization of the Receptors Involved

ABSTRACT The rabbit perfused atria preparation with the extrinsic sympathetic and vagus innervation intact has been used to study the mutual interactions between the two branches of the autonomic nervous system by measuring the respective transmitter overflow rates upon electrical stimulation. Using this method the stimuli exciting vagus and sympathetic nerves can be applied at selected time intervals which provides an advantage over the common method of field stimulation where all kinds of neurons are stimulated simultaneously. In the absence of drugs, presynaptic interactions resulting in a decreased noradrenaline overflow occurred when the vagal stimuli preceded the sympathetic ones by 3…