Ultrastructural studies on the barrier properties of the paraganglia in the rat recurrent laryngeal nerve.

The permeability of blood capillaries in the paraganglia of the rat recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) was investigated by employing the ionic lanthanum tracer at ultrastructural level. Two types of blood capillaries, namely, fenestrated and nonfenestrated types, were observed in the rat RLN and its associated paraganglia (RLN paraganglia). A preferential distribution of fenestrated capillaries in the RLN paraganglia was noted. Nonfenestrated capillaries were distributed in the area of RLN devoid of paraganglia. Minute aberrant ganglia consisting of 4-8 neurons were frequently encountered in the rat RLN near the paraganglia. The capillaries in these neuronal areas were also nonfenestrated. The lanthanum tracer was limited within the vascular lumen, but not in the extravascular space, in the RLN proper and in the area of RLN paraganglia where the neurons were identified. In the RLN paraganglia, the tracer was located in the vascular lumen, extravascular space, periaxonal space of nerve fibers, and the intercellular space of the RLN paraganglionic cells. We concluded that (1) a blood-nerve barrier and a blood-ganglion (or blood-neuron) barrier exist in the area of RLN devoid of paraganglia, and (2) blood-paraganglion barrier and blood-nerve barrier were lacking in the rat RLN paraganglia.