Synaptic activation and properties of 5-hydroxytryptamine(3) receptors in myenteric neurons of guinea pig intestine

The contribution of 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin; 5-HT) acting at 5-HT3 r eceptors to fast excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) and the proper ties of 5-HT3 receptors in the guinea pig small intestinal myenteric plexus were investigated using electrophysiological methods. In 11% of neurons st udied in the acutely isolated myenteric plexus, ondansetron (1 mu M) inhibi ted hexamethonium (100 mu M)-resistant fEPSPs. 5-HT elicited an inward curr ent in neurons maintained in primary culture. The peak current reached maxi mum in <150 ms and desensitized with a double exponential time course (tau 1 = 1.1 +/- 0.1 s; tau 2 = 6.9 +/- 0.9 s). The whole-cell current/voltage r elationship was linear, with a reversal potential of 2.7 +/- 1.5 mV. The ra pidly activating and desensitizing current was completely blocked by ondans etron (1 mu M) and partly inhibited by d-tubocurare (1 mu M). The 5-HT3-rec eptor agonist, 2-methyl-5-HT (100 mu M), caused a peak current that was 18% of the peak current caused by 5-HT in the same cells; 2-methyl-5-HT(1 mu M ) inhibited currents caused by 5-HT. 5-HT-activated single-channel currents in outside-out patches; this response was blocked by ondansetron. The sing le-channel conductance was 17 +/- 1 pS. The single-channel current/voltage relationship was linear between -110 and 70 mV and had a reversal potential near 0 mV. These data indicate that 5-HT contributes to fEPSPs in the myen teric plexus. The 5-HT3 receptor expressed by guinea pig myenteric neurons has pharmacological and electrophysiological properties that distinguish it from 5-HT3 receptors expressed by other autonomic neurons and neurons in t he central nervous system.