Krukoff T L, Ciriello J, Calaresu F R
J Comp Neurol. 1985 Oct 1;240(1):90-102. doi: 10.1002/cne.902400107.
The distribution of leucine-enkephalin, methionine-enkephalin, neurotensin, somatostatin, substance P, oxytocin, vasopressin, and neurophysin II in cell bodies of sympathetic autonomic nuclei of the thoracolumbar (T-L) spinal cord was studied immunohistochemically in cats after intrathecal administration of colchicine. Neurons containing only enkephalin-, neurotensin-, somatostatin-, and substance P-like immunoreactivity (ENK, NT, SS, SP, respectively) were found in the intermediolateral nucleus pars principalis (IMLp) and pars funicularis (IMLf), the nucleus intercalatus (IC), and the central autonomic area (CA). The size, shape, location, and numbers of the peptide-positive neurons in the IMLp, IMLf, and IC suggested that they were sympathetic preganglionic neurons (SPN). This was confirmed by a combined retrograde tracing/immunohistochemical study showing that most of these neurons at the levels of the T-L cord known to provide preganglionic fibers to the stellate ganglion were SPN. On the other hand, the functional identification of the neurons in the CA is uncertain as neurons were not observed which were both retrogradely labelled and contained ENK, NT, SS, or SP. Immunoreactive neurons in each area were counted in ten sections from each segment from C8 to L4. In the IMLp, the SPN with ENK were greatest in number (up to 25) in segments T4-T7 and L2-L3. The maximum number of SPN containing NT was found in segments T4-T7 (45 neurons). Of the four peptides, neurons containing SS were found in the greatest number (up to 48 in segments T2-T6); neurons containing SP were found in the smallest number (15 or fewer per segment). Few SPN containing each of the four peptides were found in the IC; CA neurons with ENK and NT were also few in number. A comparison of the numbers of immunoreactive neurons in the IML with earlier estimates for the total numbers of SPN in the IML at each level showed that the proportions of IML neurons containing each of the four peptides were fairly consistent throughout the T-L cord, with some exceptions. These results suggest that the innervation of visceral organs is not obviously peptide-specific, although some organs may be innervated by a greater proportion of SPN containing one of these peptides. Finally, the presence of ENK, NT, SS, and SP in SPN suggests that these four peptides act as neurotransmitters in preganglionic pathways to sympathetic ganglia.
在猫鞘内注射秋水仙碱后，采用免疫组织化学方法研究了亮氨酸脑啡肽、甲硫氨酸脑啡肽、神经降压素、生长抑素、P物质、催产素、血管加压素和神经垂体素II在胸腰段（T-L）脊髓交感自主神经核细胞体中的分布。在中间外侧核主部（IMLp）和索部（IMLf）、中间核（IC）和中枢自主区（CA）中发现了仅含有脑啡肽样、神经降压素样、生长抑素样和P物质样免疫反应性（分别为ENK、NT、SS、SP）的神经元。IMLp、IMLf和IC中肽阳性神经元的大小、形状、位置和数量表明它们是交感神经节前神经元（SPN）。一项逆行追踪/免疫组织化学联合研究证实了这一点，该研究表明，在胸腰段脊髓已知向星状神经节提供节前纤维的水平上，这些神经元中的大多数是SPN。另一方面，CA中神经元的功能鉴定尚不确定，因为未观察到既被逆行标记又含有ENK、NT、SS或SP的神经元。对从C8到L4每个节段的十个切片中每个区域的免疫反应性神经元进行了计数。在IMLp中，含ENK的SPN数量在T4-T7节段和L2-L3节段最多（可达25个）。含NT的SPN数量最多的是T4-T7节段（45个神经元）。在这四种肽中，含SS的神经元数量最多（T2-T6节段可达48个）；含SP的神经元数量最少（每个节段15个或更少）。在IC中发现含这四种肽的SPN很少；含ENK和NT的CA神经元数量也很少。将IML中免疫反应性神经元的数量与早期对每个水平IML中SPN总数的估计进行比较，结果表明，在胸腰段脊髓中，含这四种肽的IML神经元比例相当一致，但也有一些例外。这些结果表明，内脏器官的神经支配并非明显具有肽特异性，尽管某些器官可能由更大比例的含这些肽之一的SPN支配。最后，SPN中存在ENK、NT、SS和SP表明这四种肽在通向交感神经节的节前通路中作为神经递质起作用。
