These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Distributional pattern and targets of GABA-containing neurons in the porcine small and large intestine.
    Author: Timmermans MW, Scheuermann DW.
    Journal: Eur J Morphol; 1998 Jul; 36(3):133-42. PubMed ID: 9845259.
    Abstract:
    In the rat and guinea-pig enteric nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) has been shown to act as a neurotransmitter in interneurons innervating both excitatory and inhibitory motor neurons, thus modulating peristalsis and acid secretion. The present study reports on the distribution of GABA-containing neurons in the porcine intestine by the use of immunocytochemistry. Duodenal, jejunal, ileal and distal colonic segments were exposed in vitro to exogenous GABA (10(-8) M) prior to fixation and immunocytochemical staining to supplement endogenous stores of GABA. In contrast to the guinea-pig intestine, where GABA-immunoreactive (IR) nerve cell bodies were common in myenteric ganglia but very rare in the submucosa, in the pig intestine the nerve cell bodies expressing GABA-immunoreactivity were found predominantly in the ganglia and nerve strands of the inner submucous plexus, while a small number were also found in the myenteric plexus. Most of the neurons were small-sized and had a multidendritic uniaxonal appearance. Their varicose axonal processes protruded within the same ganglion to other nerve cells, including GABA-IR ones, or ran into connecting nerve strands towards neighbouring ganglia. Some of the bigger GABA-IR neurons in the myenteric plexus, however, displayed either a lamellar multidendritic uniaxonal or a bipolar appearance. The density of GABA-IR neurons in the inner submucous plexus varied from duodenum to colon, being highest in ileum and lowest in duodenum. Double-immunolabelling of GABA with substance P revealed that approximately 40% of the GABA-IR neurons in the inner submucous plexus of the ileum also stained for substance P. Our results suggest that in the porcine enteric nervous system, GABA-containing neurons are primarily involved in the modulation of secretory processes rather than in the modulation of peristalsis.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]