Abstract
This review traces the history of the discovery and subsequent understanding of smooth
muscle cells and their motor innervation. Smooth muscle tissue is made up of thousands
of very small, individual, electrically connected, muscle cells. Each axon that enters
a smooth muscle tissue branches extensively to form a terminal arbour that comes close
to hundreds of smooth muscle cells. The branches of the terminal arbour are varicose,
and each varicosity, of which there can be thousands, contains numerous transmitter
storage vesicles. However, the probability of an individual varicosity releasing transmitter
onto the adjacent muscle cells when an action potential passes is low. Many axons
influence each muscle cell, some because they release transmitter close to the cell,
and some because the events that they cause in other cells are electrically coupled
to the cell under investigation. In tissues where this has been assessed, 20 or more
axons can influence a single smooth muscle cell. We present a model of the innervation
and influence of neurons on smooth muscle.
Graphical abstract
Graphical Abstract
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 09, 2021
Accepted:
May 5,
2021
Received in revised form:
May 3,
2021
Received:
March 24,
2021
Identification
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