Correlation between electrical and morphological properties of canine pyloric circular muscle

Electrical slow waves decay in amplitude as they conduct from the myenteric to the submucosal regions of the circular muscle layer in the canine pyloric sphincter. We used the partitioned chamber method to study the passive and active properties of pyloric muscles, and we found that length constants of circular muscles of myenteric region were significantly longer than muscles near the submucosal surface. These data suggested differences in either membrane resistance, junctional resistance, or cytoplasmic resistance. The first parameter was evaluated by measuring time constants in intact tissues and single cells isolated from the submucosal and myenteric regions. Membrane time constants were not different in the two regions, nor were differences found in the input resistances of isolated cells. Morphological studies failed to demonstrate differences in cell diameters in the two regions suggesting that cytoplasmic resistances are similar. These findings suggest that the different cable properties in the two regions may be due to differences in electrical coupling. Morphological examination revealed similar numbers of gap junctions between cells in the two regions, but large differences were noted in the size of muscular bundles. Muscles of the myenteric region were arranged into large, tightly packed bundles, whereas muscles of the submucosal region consisted of small bundles with an extensive extracellular space filled with connective tissue. We suggest that the difference in cable properties may be due to differences in electrical coupling between bundles. These data suggest that submucosal muscles function more like a multiunit smooth muscle, whereas myenteric muscles behave as a single unit.