Cholinergic innervation of the smooth muscle cells in the choroid coat of the chick eye and its development

The mechanical and pharmacological characteristics of the cholinergic activation of the smooth muscle in the choroidal coat of the chick eye have been assessed in tissues isolated from birds 1 d posthatching using histological, electrophysiological, and immunological techniques. The choroidal coat is innervated by a dense network of cholinergic nerves that make en passant synapses with smooth muscle. Thirty-hertz stimulation of these nerves initiates red blood cell (RBC) movement in the vessels of the choroidal coat, and this activation is blocked by muscarinic ACh receptor (AChR) antagonists. Force-transducer recordings of nerve-induced contractions of this tissue have a slow onset and relaxation time course similar to those of smooth muscle contractions. Furthermore, since nearly half the cholinergic neurons innervating the choroid die within a defined period during development, the onset and pharmacology of this innervation were studied during embryogenesis. With a neural cytoskeletal-like immunostain, we demonstrated that choroid axons are present in peripheral tissue by stage (St) 29. Extracellular electrical recordings made after choroid nerve stimulation allowed us to distinguish axon from muscle responses. These procedures permitted us to examine the time course of the innervation of the smooth muscle. However, to visualize the postsynaptic smooth muscle response, it was necessary to treat the isolated preparation with tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA). Accordingly, TEA-enhanced electrical smooth muscle responses to single-nerve stimuli could be recorded only after St 39. Treatment of the nerve-muscle preparation with prostigmine allowed the recording of TEA-enhanced electrical activity as early as St 36 (1 d after the beginning of the normal choroid neuron death period). This synaptic activation was completely blocked by atropine or quinuclidinyl benzylate (QNB), and was not affected by alpha bungarotoxin (alpha BTX), indicating that, as in the posthatching tissue, neuromuscular transmission is mediated by muscarinic receptors. These results show that cholinergic muscarinic activation of the choroidal coat can occur as early as St 36, but that it is not as efficient as transmission later in embryogenesis.