Luff S E
Baker Medical Research Institute, Prahran, Victoria, Australia.
Anat Embryol (Berl). 1996 Jun;193(6):515-31. doi: 10.1007/BF00187924.
This review focuses on the more recent findings of the structure of sympathetic postganglionic axons and the association of their varicose terminals with vascular smooth muscle. These studies have investigated the innervation of a wide range of vessels from different regions of the vasculature in the rat, guinea pig and rabbit and have predominantly used serial sections and computerised three-dimensional reconstructions of entire varicosities. They have shown, contrary to previous studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s, that sympathetic axon varicosities commonly form structurally specialised neuromuscular junctions with vascular smooth muscle cells of most resistance arteries and some small veins. In addition, they have shown that most axon varicosities innervating small arterioles and small mesenteric veins form neuromuscular junctions, indicating that neurotransmitter is primarily released at such neuromuscular junctions. This review discusses the structure of sympathetic neuromuscular junctions, their development, structural diversity and distribution on vessels from different regions of the vasculature. These more recent structural findings and their possible significance for our understanding of mechanisms involved in neural transmission in blood vessels is discussed.
本综述聚焦于交感神经节后轴突的结构以及其曲张终末与血管平滑肌的关联的最新研究发现。这些研究调查了大鼠、豚鼠和兔子不同血管区域的多种血管的神经支配情况，并且主要使用了连续切片以及对整个曲张体的计算机三维重建技术。与20世纪60年代和70年代进行的先前研究相反，它们表明交感神经轴突曲张体通常与大多数阻力动脉和一些小静脉的血管平滑肌细胞形成结构特殊的神经肌肉接头。此外，它们还表明，支配小动脉和小肠系膜小静脉的大多数轴突曲张体形成神经肌肉接头，这表明神经递质主要在这些神经肌肉接头处释放。本综述讨论了交感神经肌肉接头的结构、其发育、结构多样性以及在不同血管区域血管上的分布。还讨论了这些最新的结构发现及其对于我们理解血管神经传递所涉及机制的可能意义。
