NEURON SPECIFIC ENOLASE IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL OBSERVATION ON THE PARALYMPHATIC NEURONS IN SUBMUCOUS NERVE PLEXUS IN THE GUT OF GUINEA PIGS / 解剖学报

We have reported previously a peculiar type of neurons in the submucous nerve plexus in the intestine of guinea pigs, and named them tentatively the ′paralymphatic neurons′. In order to further study this type of neurons, the immunohistochemical observation for neuron specific enolase (NSE) reactivity of the enteric nerve plexus in guinea pigs was carried out in this investigation. We found that all the neurons in the enteric nerve plexus showed NSE positive reaction. The paralymphatic neurons located closely against to lymphatic vessels in submucous nerve plexus in small intestine and colon also exhibited same NSE positive reaction as other neurons. All the smooth muscle and connective tissue cells were NSE negative. Most of the paralymphatic neurons exhibited typical morphological features of neurons. Although some cells did not show obvious neuronal characters, but they all presented the same positive reactivity. Hence, this study provide another reliable evidence to confirm the exact neuronal nature of the paralymphatic neurons.

A PECULIAR TYPE OF NEURONS IN SUBMUCOUS NERVOUS PLEXUS OF THE GUT IN GUINEA-PIG——PRELIMINARY HISTOLOGICAL STUDY / 解剖学报

The submucous plexus of the gastrointestinal tract in 20 guinea pigs were studied by histochemical methods for Nissl bodies and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and immunohistochemieal technique for somatostatin (SOM). We found that some neurons in the submueous plexus were located against the lymphatic vessels or even protruded toward the lumen, and only a basement membrane separated the endotheliocytes from the neurons. Thus we refer them as "paralymphatic neurons". The neurons were spindle, pear-like or polygonal in shape and all showed AChE positive reaction, but some of them exhibited SOM positive reaction. So, the paralymphatie neurons were different in property. According to the close appositional relationship between the neurons and lymphatic vessels, we infer that this peculiar type of neurons might be similar to the "cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons" in the ependyma and might have the function of neurosecretion or reception of the changes of chemical composition in the lymph. Paralymphatie neurons existed mainly in small intestine, rarely in colon and were not seen in gastric corpus and pyloric region. This suggested that the neurons might play a more important role in small intestine.