ELECTRIC STIMULATION AND CONDUCTION OF EXCITATION IN SMOOTH MUSCLE

Abstract

Visceral smooth muscles, under certain conditions, respond to electric stimulation by a conducted response. Nervous structures are not involved in the response. Conduction, therefore, is due to a transmission of an impulse from cell to cell as in a syn-cytium. The syncytial character of the type of muscle studied is, furthermore, shown by the effects of the electric current. The characteristics of the excitability of various smooth muscles differ widely.