I'm studying the effects of SMN on smooth muscle in the gut, and because the enteric nervous system lacks NMJs but rather has neuronal varicosities that secrete neurotransmitters, I'm wondering if there is a better method of examining the release of neurotransmitters and their actions on smooth muscle cells. I'm currently doing organ bath studies and calcium imaging, but I think there might be an improved way of looking at this, I'm just not sure how.
I suggest that you make intracellular recordings from smooth muscles cells, and measure muscle responses to nerve activity that will be evoked by field stimulation. This method is not simple, but it's doable.
What if you arrange a separate setup to record contractility of, say, taenia coli and administer your neurotransmitters directly on precontracted SMCs? There was an obsolete but good technique, called sucrose gap junction which may do the job you want
We also used calcium imaging at high magnification to study varicosity activity which works very well (bayguinov st al 2012). The TK Smith lab at university of Reno have a number of papers using different methods of studying enteric activity.
Contact Dr. James Galligan at Michigan State University who has bee studying neurotransmission in the gut for decades. [email protected]. His graduate student Eileen may also be very helpful. [email protected].
You can also use extracellular recording with suction electrode to record from a group of smooth muscle cells plus electrical field stimulation, which is much easier than intracellular recording method. Using this method you can apply specific agonists or antagonists to a group of receptors or channel blockers, which are available from commercial market.
I think this paper would be useful:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016508598701982
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