Anatomia Umana, Scuola di Scienze del Farmaco e dei Prodotti della Salute, Università di Camerino, Italy.
Peptides. 2011 May;32(5):920-8. doi: 10.1016/j.peptides.2011.01.022. Epub 2011 Feb 1.
Human thymus of healthy subjects and patients affected by thymoma-associated Myastenia Gravis were studied in order to visualize and compare the morphological distributive pattern of four neuropeptides: vasoactive intestinal peptide, substance P, neuropeptide Y, and neurotensin. Based on our observations, we formulated hypotheses on their relations in neuro-immunomodulation under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Immuno-histochemical staining for neuropeptides was performed and morphological and morphometrical analyses were conducted on healthy and diseased thymus. In normal thymus, a specific distributive pattern was observed for the several neuropeptide-positive nerves in different thymus lobular zones. In particular substance P-positive fibers were observed in subcapsular zone, specifically located into parenchyma, where they represent the almost total amount of fibers; neurotensin-positive fibers were observed primarily located in parenchyma than perivascular site of several thymus lobular zones, and more abundant the cortico-medullary and medullary zones. Instead VIP- and NPY-positive fibers were widely distributed in perivascular and parenchymal sites of several thymus lobular zones. In thymoma, the distribution of neuropeptide-positive fibers was quantitatively reduced, while cells immunopositive to VIP and substance P were quantitatively increased and dispersed. Observation of the perivascular and parenchymal distribution of the analyzed neuropeptides suggests evidence that a regulatory function is performed by nerves and cells that secrete neuropeptide into the thymus. The alteration of neuropeptide patterns in thymoma suggests that these neurotransmitters play a role in autoimmune diseases such as Myastenia Gravis.
血管活性肠肽、P 物质、神经肽 Y 和神经降压素在健康受试者和胸腺瘤相关重症肌无力患者胸腺中的形态分布模式，研究了人类胸腺。基于我们的观察结果，我们提出了关于它们在生理和病理生理条件下神经免疫调节中的关系的假设。对神经肽进行免疫组织化学染色，并对健康和患病胸腺进行形态和形态计量学分析。在正常胸腺中，几种神经肽阳性神经在不同胸腺小叶区呈现出特定的分布模式。特别是 P 物质阳性纤维观察到在被膜下区，特别是位于实质内，其中它们代表了几乎所有纤维的数量；神经降压素阳性纤维主要观察到位于几个胸腺小叶区的实质而不是血管周围部位，并且皮质-髓质和髓质区更丰富。相反，VIP 和 NPY 阳性纤维广泛分布于几个胸腺小叶区的血管周围和实质部位。在胸腺瘤中，神经肽阳性纤维的分布在数量上减少，而 VIP 和 P 物质免疫阳性细胞在数量上增加并分散。分析神经肽的血管周围和实质分布观察表明，神经和分泌神经肽的细胞在胸腺中发挥调节功能。胸腺瘤中神经肽模式的改变表明这些神经递质在自身免疫性疾病如重症肌无力中发挥作用。
