Retrograde changes in the dorsal motor nuclei of rat vagus nerve after vagotomy / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the retrograde changes in the dorsal motor nuclei (DMV) of the vagus nerve after vagotomy in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Nissl staining and immunohistochemistry were used to observe the morphological and quantitative changes of the DMV and alterations of the expression of iNOS and NADPH after severing of the vagus nerve in adult male Wistar rats.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control group, the rats with right vagotomy showed obvious morphological changes and a significantly decreased number of neurons in the right DMV (P<0.05). Numerous iNOS- and NADPH-immunopositive cells were detected in the right DMV 5 and 10 days after right vagotomy.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Vagotomy causes obvious retrograde changes in rat DMV shown by a significantly decreased number and obvious morphological changes of the neurons in the DMV.</p>