Types of nerve terminals in fetal and neonatal rabbit myocardium.

With the use of electron microscopy 4 types of axonal profiles were observed in the developing myocardium of rabbits: 1) adrenergic axons which contained mainly small dense-core vesicles and which presumably can store 5-hydroxy-dopamine; 2) cholinergic axons which contained small clear synaptic vesicles and which were acetylcholinesterase-positive; 3) axons which contained large vesicles filled with moderately electron-dense material and which resembled purinergic axons; and 4) profiles filled with mitochondria, vesicles of various sizes, lysosome-like bodies, and microtubules and which resembled sensory terminals.