Evidence for Cholinergic Synapses Between Dissociated Rat Sympathetic Neurons in Cell Culture

Abstract

Sympathetic principal neurons were dissociated from superior cervical ganglia of new-born rats, and grown in cell culture. In electrophysiological experiments two types of excitatory synapses were found. One, which was relatively rare, was shown to operate by electrical transmission. The other, the predominant type, had several characteristics of chemical transmission, and pharmacological evidence indicated it was cholinergic.