ENTERIC GABA - MODE OF ACTION AND ROLE IN THE REGULATION OF THE PERISTALTIC REFLEX

The mode of action of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and the role of myenteric GABA neurons in the regulation of peristalsis were examined in various preparations of rat colonic muscle. GABA had no contractile, relaxant, or modulatory effect on smooth muscle cells isolated from the circular muscle layer. In innervated circular muscle strips, GABA elicited concentration-dependent relaxation accompanied by release of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). Relaxation and VIP release were inhibited by tetrodotoxin and by the GABA(A) receptor antagonist bicuculline but not by the GABA(B) receptor antagonist phaclofen. Relaxation was inhibited by the VIP receptor antagonist VIP-(10-28) implying that VIP release was coupled to muscle relaxation. Relaxation was augmented by atropine implying that GABA also activated cholinergic neurons causing release of acetylcholine that attenuated the relaxant response. This pharmacological profile was evident when GABA was released from intrinsic GABA neurons during peristalsis induced by radial stretch. Blockade of GABA(A) receptors with bicuculline inhibited the descending relaxation mediated by VIP motor neurons and the ascending contraction mediated by cholinergic motor neurons. Stimulation of these receptors with exogenous GABA had the opposite effect. We conclude that on release from myenteric neurons, GABA acts via GABA(A) receptors on cholinergic and VIP motor neurons responsible for the two components of the peristaltic reflex.