Afferent fibres from the guinea-pig ureter: size and peptide content of the dorsal root ganglion cells of origin.

A study was undertaken to determine the segmental organization of the dorsal root ganglion cells which give rise to ureteric primary afferent fibres in the guinea-pig. The size-distribution and peptide content of these dorsal root ganglion cells were examined and compared with a sample of all dorsal root ganglion cells from the same ganglia. Afferent fibres to the guinea-pig ureter were found to arise mainly from dorsal root ganglia L2-L3 and S1-S2. A large contralateral component of the afferent innervation of the ureter was found when either the right or the left ureter was injected with tracer. This amounted to approximately 40% of the total labelled cells. The cross-sectional areas of the dorsal root ganglion cells of ureteric afferents were found to be at the smaller end of the size-range for the whole ganglion. Most (90%) of the cells innervating the ureter were immunoreactive for one of the peptides studies, substance P or calcitonin gene-related peptide, and a large proportion (65%) were immunoreactive for both. This was very different for the ganglia as a whole, where only about 50% of the cells were immunoreactive for either of the peptides and only 14% were immunoreactive for both peptides. These results show a bilateral afferent innervation of the ureter by nerve fibres which, in the vast majority, contain substance P and/or calcitonin gene-related peptide.