PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - W. FLACKE AU - R. A. GILLIS TI - IMPULSE TRANSMISSION <em>VIA</em> NICOTINIC AND MUSCARINIC PATHWAYS IN THE STELLATE GANGLION OF THE DOG DP - 1968 Oct 01 TA - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics PG - 266--276 VI - 163 IP - 2 4099 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/163/2/266.short 4100 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/163/2/266.full SO - J Pharmacol Exp Ther1968 Oct 01; 163 AB - Impulse transmission in the stellate ganglion of the dog has been studied by comparing the increase in heart rate evoked by pre- or postganglionic stimulation of the cardiac sympathetic nerves over a range of frequencies. The curves relating stimulation frequency to rate increase were only shifted to the right by supramaximal doses of nicotine, hexamethonium, d-tubocurarine, tetraethylammonium, chlorisondamine and mecamylamine. The same maximal increase in rate was seen before and after the nicotinic blocking agents. A dose of 0.030 mg/kg of atropine or 0.003 mg/kg of scopolamine, administered after a nicotinic agent, blocked the stimulation effect. At this time the response to postganglionic stimulation was unaltered. Atropine alone, even in doses as high as 3 mg/kg, did not alter the frequency-response curve to preganglionic stimulation. Hemicholinium (3 mg/kg) had no immediate effect but blocked preganglionic stimulation responses of both types with time and continued stimulation. It is concluded that orderly transmission of nerve impulses across the stellate ganglion can occur via two different pathways, one subject to block by nicotine and related agents, the other sensitive to small doses of atropine or scopolamine. From the fact that hemicholinium abolished transmission completely, it is concluded that both pathways are cholinergic. © 1968 by the Williams &amp; Wilkins Co.