Organizational principles in the peripheral sympathetic nervous system: subdivision by coexisting peptides (somatostatin-, avian pancreatic polypeptide-, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-like immunoreactive materials).

Sympathetic ganglia and some peripheral tissues of adult guinea pig and cat were analyzed by the indirect immunofluorescence technique with antisera to catecholamine-synthesizing enzymes and some peptides. In the guinea pig, noradrenergic neurons could be subdivided into three populations containing respectively (i) somatostatin-like immunoreactive material, (ii) avian pancreatic polypeptide (APP)-like immunoreactive material, and (iii) apparently only noradrenaline (NA; norepinephrine). A fourth population of sympathetic neurons was nonadrenergic and contained vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-immunoreactive material. In the cat many noradrenergic neurons with APP and some without this peptide were seen, but no somatostatin-immunoreactive neurons were observed. Also a population of non-adrenergic, presumably cholinergic, neurons containing a VIP-like peptide was observed. These neuron populations seemed to innervate different tissues with some target specificity. For example, in the nasal mucosa of the cat, nerves containing NA/APP-like immunoreactive material (called NA/APP nerves) were found around small arteries and arterioles, whereas venules and sinusoids were surrounded by nerves containing only NA (called NA nerves). Also in the submandibular salivary gland of the cat, the NA/APP nerves surrounded arteries and arterioles, whereas NA nerves were seen in relation to acini and ducts. The sympathetic (cholinergic) VIP-containing neurons innervated blood vessels and exocrine tissue in the cat sweat glands. In the coeliac-superior mesenteric ganglion complex of the guinea pig and cat, a dense network of VIP-immunoreactive fibers was seen preferentially around noradrenergic ganglionic cell bodies lacking APP-immunoreactive material. Thus, adult peripheral sympathetic neurons can be subdivided into several categories on the basis of specific peptides. These subdivisions may innervate specific targets and may receive peptide-specific neuronal inputs.