Elnasharty Mohamed A, Sayed-Ahmed Ahmed
Department of Histology and Cytology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour, Egypt.
Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour, Egypt.
Acta Histochem. 2014 Oct;116(8):1382-9. doi: 10.1016/j.acthis.2014.09.001. Epub 2014 Sep 18.
Cholinergic innervation of the rat adrenal gland has been analyzed previously using cholinergic markers including acetylcholinesterase (AChE), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT). In the present study, we demonstrate putative cholinergic neurons in the rat adrenal gland using an antibody to pChAT, which is the product of a splice variant of ChAT mRNA that is preferentially localized in peripheral cholinergic nerves. Most of the ganglionic neurons as well as small single sporadic neurons in the adrenal gland were stained intensely for pChAT. The density of pChAT-immunoreactive (IR) fibers was distinct in the adrenal cortex and medulla. AChE-, cChAT- and VAChT-immunoreactivities were also observed in some cells and fibers of the adrenal medulla, while the cortex had few positive nerve fibers. These results indicate that ganglionic neurons of the adrenal medulla and nerve fibers heterogeneously express cholinergic markers, especially pChAT. Furthermore, the innervation of the adrenal gland, cortex and medulla, by some cholinergic fibers provides additional morphological evidence for a significant role of cholinergic mechanisms in adrenal gland functions.
先前已使用包括乙酰胆碱酯酶（AChE）、胆碱乙酰转移酶（ChAT）和囊泡乙酰胆碱转运体（VAChT）在内的胆碱能标记物对大鼠肾上腺的胆碱能神经支配进行了分析。在本研究中，我们使用针对磷酸化胆碱乙酰转移酶（pChAT）的抗体证实了大鼠肾上腺中存在假定的胆碱能神经元，pChAT是ChAT mRNA剪接变体的产物，优先定位于外周胆碱能神经中。肾上腺中的大多数神经节神经元以及单个散在的小神经元对pChAT染色强烈。pChAT免疫反应性（IR）纤维的密度在肾上腺皮质和髓质中明显不同。在肾上腺髓质的一些细胞和纤维中也观察到了AChE、cChAT和VAChT免疫反应性，而皮质中几乎没有阳性神经纤维。这些结果表明，肾上腺髓质的神经节神经元和神经纤维异质性地表达胆碱能标记物，尤其是pChAT。此外，一些胆碱能纤维对肾上腺、皮质和髓质的神经支配为胆碱能机制在肾上腺功能中的重要作用提供了额外的形态学证据。
