A quantitative correlation of substance P-, calcitonin gene-related peptide- and cholecystokinin-like immunoreactivity with retrogradely labeled trigeminal ganglion cells innervating the eye.

To evaluate the intraganglionic organization of ocular sensory neurons in the guinea pig, we studied the retrograde axonal transport from the eye to the trigeminal ganglion of cholera toxin B subunit and then applied immunohistochemistry for substance P, calcitonin gene-related peptide and cholecystokinin. Retrogradely labeled cells were observed only in the anteromedial portion of the ipsilateral ganglion. We observed no somatotopical organization to trigeminal neurons containing any of these three peptides, either for cells projecting to the eye or for the ganglion as a whole. The relative proportion of neurons immunoreactive for each of these three peptides was similar among the population of neurons retrogradely labeled with cholera toxin B and among the population of neurons without direct projections to the eye.