Mp. Grant et al., THE ROLE OF ACETYLCHOLINE IN REGULATING SECRETORY RESPONSIVENESS IN RAT SWEAT GLANDS, Molecular and cellular neurosciences, 6(1), 1995, pp. 32-42
While retrograde regulation of neuronal development by target-derived
factors in the autonomic nervous system is well established, the impor
tance of anterograde influences on target development is unclear. Prev
ious studies suggest that sympathetic innervation of sweat glands play
s a critical role in the acquisition and maintenance of their secretor
y function. To define the signal(s) responsible, we disrupted muscarin
ic cholinergic transmission in developing and adult rats. Treatment of
young rats with the nonselective antagonist, atropine, or an antagoni
st selective for the glandular muscarinic subtype, 4-DAMP, delayed the
development of secretory responsiveness. Treatment of adult animals w
ith atropine caused its loss. Further, following denervation, treatmen
t with the muscarinic agonist, pilocarpine, largely preserved responsi
veness while untreated animals lost function. Thus, acetylcholine, who
se presence in sweat gland innervation is retrogradely specified by de
velopmental interactions with the target tissue, in turn plays an impo
rtant role in inducing and maintaining target tissue responsiveness th
rough muscarinic receptor activation. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.