Smith V V, Milla P J
Histopathology Department, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London, UK.
Br J Biomed Sci. 1996 Dec;53(4):278-83.
Silver staining is a useful means of demonstrating enteric neurons, and an absence of argyrophilic neurons has been proposed as a cause of functional intestinal obstruction in infants. No systematic data are available about the origin and development of argyrophilia, or of normal neuronal appearances. Specimens of colon from 48 infants and children (pre-term to 14 years) who had died of nongastrointestinal causes were studied by silver staining. Inter-sample variations in neuronal size, morphology and intensity of staining (strong, faint or absent) were seen: strong argyrophilia (n = 17), age range three days to eight years (median seven months); no argyrophilia (n = 19), pre-term to one year (median eight weeks); weak argyrophilia (n = 12) one day to 14 years (median eight weeks). Neurons in every preterm infant were argyrophobic, and argyrophilic neurons were always found in babies aged over one year. Where argyrophilic neurons were seen, argyrophobes outnumbered them (median ratio of 9:1). This study demonstrated considerable variability in the appearance and argyrophilia of colonic myenteric neurons in the first year of life. The data were consistent with the continuing post-natal development of the enteric nervous system in a manner analogous to the brain, and show the importance of age in the interpretation of silver-stained material from infants with pseudo-obstruction.
银染色是显示肠神经元的一种有用方法，嗜银神经元的缺失被认为是婴儿功能性肠梗阻的一个原因。目前尚无关于嗜银性的起源和发展或正常神经元外观的系统性数据。对48例死于非胃肠道原因的婴儿和儿童（从早产儿到14岁）的结肠标本进行了银染色研究。观察到样本间神经元大小、形态和染色强度（强、弱或无）存在差异：强嗜银性（n = 17），年龄范围为3天至8岁（中位数为7个月）；无嗜银性（n = 19），从早产儿到1岁（中位数为8周）；弱嗜银性（n = 12），1天至14岁（中位数为8周）。每个早产儿的神经元均为嗜银阴性，而嗜银性神经元总是在1岁以上的婴儿中发现。在发现嗜银性神经元的地方，嗜银阴性神经元的数量超过它们（中位数比例为9:1）。这项研究表明，在生命的第一年，结肠肌间神经丛神经元的外观和嗜银性存在很大差异。这些数据与肠神经系统在出生后持续发育的情况一致，类似于大脑的发育情况，并表明年龄在解释患有假性肠梗阻的婴儿的银染材料时的重要性。
