Quinacrine-induced degeneration of non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic autonomic nerves in the rat anococcygeus muscle.

The morphological changes induced in the autonomic nerves of the rat anococcygeus muscle after the injection of quinacrine (QC, 100 or 200 mg/kg) were examined by electron microscopy in order to clarify the nature of QC-binding nerves seen at the fluorescence-microscopic level. A correspondence between granular QC fluorescence and many lysosomal dense bodies is observed both in the cytoplasm of muscle cells and in non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic (NANC) axons during the first few days following injection. A number of brilliantly fluorescent fibres is observed 1 week after injection. At the ultrastructural level, these fibres seem to correlate with NANC axons which are crowded with many dense bodies and large granular vesicles. Notably, some lysosomal dense bodies contain many large granular vesicles. The effects of QC injection on the ultrastructure of adrenergic axons have also been observed, but are not so marked as in the NANC axons. The administration of QC did not cause complete degeneration of the NANC nerves, though degenerating axons were sometimes observed. The present data indicate that most, if not all, QC-binding nerves observed at the fluorescence-microscopic level correspond to NANC nerves at the electron-microscopic level. Furthermore, NANC axons appear to contain a considerable amount of ATP concentrated in the large granular vesicles.