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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

In Situ Ca2+ Imaging of the Enteric Nervous System
Published on: January 29, 2015
Activity-dependent changes in intracellular calcium in myenteric neurons
1Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
Abstract:
The spatial distribution and changes in intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in myenteric neurons were measured using fura 2 in the longitudinal muscle-myenteric plexus preparation from the guinea pig duodenum. These measurements were made simultaneously with intracellular voltage recordings. The generation of action potentials in the cell bodies of both S- and AH-type neurons increased [Ca2+]i in the processes and cell bodies. There was no measurable delay between the [Ca2+]i changes in the somata and the processes, indicating that these changes were caused by the spread of electrical signals and not by diffusion. The rate of Ca2+ removal was faster in the processes than in the somata, apparently due to the large surface-to-volume ratio in the former. In AH neurons, the [Ca2+]i transient was shorter than the duration of the after-spike hyperpolarization. It is concluded that the two main types of myenteric neurons possess voltage-gated Ca2+ channels in both somata and processes.
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