Faussone-Pellegrini M S
Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Florence, Italy.
Acta Anat (Basel). 1987;130(2):109-26. doi: 10.1159/000146433.
The cells present in the alimentary canal, contacting both nerve endings and smooth muscle cells and named interstitial cells of Cajal, show different ultrastructural features. A comparative study has been performed in order to see if these differences can be related to the animal species studied or to the interstitial cell localizations inside the muscle wall of the various levels of the alimentary canal or to their contacts with other cells. Only mammals were considered, and rat, mouse, hedgehog and man have been studied. All the localizations where interstitial cells of Cajal have usually been found were considered: esophagus (body and lower sphincter), stomach (gastric extent of the lower esophageal sphincter, fundus and corpus), small intestine and colon. From this comparison a correlation was found between the morphology and the location of interstitial cells. On the contrary, the morphological differences existing between animal species do not seem to be that consistent. Moreover, the number of contacts between interstitial cells and between these and smooth muscle cells and nerve endings varies according to the interstitial cell location and morphology. It is concluded that the chain nerve endings----interstitial cells of Cajal----smooth muscle cells is not morphologically identical at each gastrointestinal level, and this finding is considered very important in interpreting the role played by the interstitial cells of Cajal in gastrointestinal motility.
存在于消化道中的细胞，既与神经末梢接触又与平滑肌细胞接触，被称为 Cajal 间质细胞，它们呈现出不同的超微结构特征。为了探究这些差异是否与所研究的动物物种、消化道不同水平肌壁内的间质细胞定位或它们与其他细胞的接触有关，进行了一项比较研究。研究仅考虑了哺乳动物，包括大鼠、小鼠、刺猬和人类。研究涵盖了 Cajal 间质细胞通常被发现的所有定位：食管（体部和下括约肌）、胃（食管下括约肌的胃段、胃底和胃体）、小肠和结肠。通过这种比较，发现了间质细胞的形态与位置之间的相关性。相反，动物物种之间存在的形态差异似乎并不那么一致。此外，间质细胞之间以及它们与平滑肌细胞和神经末梢之间的接触数量根据间质细胞的位置和形态而有所不同。得出的结论是，神经末梢 - Cajal 间质细胞 - 平滑肌细胞链在胃肠道的每个水平上形态并不相同，这一发现被认为对于解释 Cajal 间质细胞在胃肠动力中所起的作用非常重要。
