Immunohistochemical analysis of neurons and their projections in the proximal colon of the guinea-pig.

The arrangement of the enteric nerve plexuses, and the distributions and projections of chemically specified neurons in the proximal colon of the guinea-pig were studied. The neural plexuses were examined using immunoreactivity to neuron specific enolase, and individual subpopulations were studied using antibodies raised against vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), substance P (SP), enkephalin, neuropeptide Y (NPY), gastrin releasing peptide (GRP), galanin, somatostatin, calbindin and calretinin. Nitric oxide producing neurons were studied using NADPH diaphorase histochemistry. The myenteric and submucous plexuses were not uniform around the entire circumference; at the mesenteric aspect of the colon there was almost no longitudinal muscle and the circular muscle was unusually thick and cord-like. In this region there was no tertiary plexus of fibres, and the ganglia of the myenteric and submucous plexuses were elongated in the direction of the circular muscle. Neuronal pathways within the antimesenteric aspect of the colon were investigated using nerve lesioning procedures. VIP, GRP, galanin, calbindin and NADPH diaphorase containing neurons lay in anally projecting pathways within the myenteric plexus, while enkephalin and somatostatin appeared in orally projecting nerve pathways. Few NPY immunoreactive nerve cells were found in the myenteric plexus of the proximal colon. The longitudinal muscle was innervated with VIP, SP, enkephalin and NADPH diaphorase containing fibres. The circular muscle was innervated by axons containing all substances investigated except NPY. Galanin, NPY, somatostatin and VIP fibres, all particularly dense in the mucosa, largely arose from nerve cell bodies in the submucous plexus. The results of the present study indicate that chemically specified neuronal populations in the proximal colon of the guinea-pig are more similar to the distal colon than the ileum, but that neuro-chemical and anatomical differences exist between the proximal and distal colon.