Immunohistochemical and Enzyme Histochemical Localization of Peptidergic, Aminergic and Cholinergic Nerve Fibers in the Rat Seminal Vesicle

Abstract

The distribution of the autonomic nervous system in the rat seminal vesicle was studied with immuno- and enzyme-histochemistry. In the smooth muscle layer, a large number of neuropeptide Y (NPY)- and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunoreactive nerve fibers were observed, while few fibers were distributed in the mucosal layer. A small number of substance P-immunoreactive fibers were present only in the smooth muscular layer, but vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-immunoreactive fibers were abundantly distributed in both layers. In the mucosal layer, the VIP-fibers ran attached to blood vessels and encircled the glandular cavities. Acetylcholinesterase-positive fibers were also observed in the mucosal and muscular layers. Electron-microscopic studies revealed that NPY- and TH-containing nerve terminals were in apposition to smooth muscle cells, and VIP-fibers terminated at blood vessels. These results suggest different modes of action of NPY-, TH- and VIP-containing nerve fibers in the seminal vesicle.

Noradrenergic and cholinergic innervation of the accessory sexual glands in male sheep

“…This finding accords with the results of previous studies describing the distribution of nerve fibres containing acetylcholinesterase (AChE) or VAChT in the human SV (Gosling and Dixon, 1994;Sjöstrand et al, 1998;Dixon et al, 2000) as well as in the SV and BU of guinea pigs (Al-Zuchair et al, 1975;Sjöstrand et al, 1998), rats (Moss et al, 1987;Yuri, 1990) and hamsters (Pinho et al, 1994;Chow et al, 1997).…”

“…A more or less equal density of noradrenergic nerve fibres was found in the mucosa and muscular layer of the BU and SV, which is consistent with the results previously obtained in humans (Gu et al, 1983;Chapple et al, 1991;Hedlund et al, 1997) and pigs (Kaleczyc et al, 1999). It must be mentioned that in other studies of the SV of humans (Gosling and Dixon, 1994; as well as rats (Owman and Sjöstrand, 1965;Moss et al, 1987;Yuri, 1990) and guinea pigs (Owman and Sjöstrand, 1965;Wakade and Kirpekar, 1971;Al-Zuchair et al, 1975) noradrenergic nerve fibres were found only in the muscular layer. Astonishingly, in the disseminated part of the ovine prostate only single nerve fibres displayed the presence of TH and DβH, which significantly differs from the previously described abundant innervation of this gland in man (Vaalasti and Hervonen, 1980), rat (Vaalasti and Hervonen, 1979) or pig (Kaleczyc et al, 1999), but is similar to that reported for the guinea pig, dog, cat, rabbit (Owman and Sjöstrand, 1965;Sjöstrand, 1965) and hamster (Chow et al, 1997).…”

“…The ovine prostate contained VIP-IR nerve fibres in a frequency comparable to the one found in the SV and BU but the abundance of NPY-IR nerve fibres was very low. Previously, numerous VIPand NPY-containing nerve fibres were found in the human ASG (Gu et al, 1983;Adrian et al, 1984;Higgins and Gosling, 1989;Lange and Unger, 1990;Chapple et al, 1991;Tainio, 1995;Hedlund et al, 1997;Dixon et al, 2000) and in the ASG of many other animal species (Alm et al, 1977(Alm et al, , 1980Stjernquist et al, 1983;Lamano-Carvalho et al, 1986;Moss et al, 1987;Yuri, 1990;Properzi et al, 1992;Iravani and Zar, 1994;Pinho et al, 1994;Ottesen et al, 1995;Domeneghini, 1997, 1998;Chow et al, 1997;Kaleczyc et al, 1999;Czaja et al, 2000;Majewski et al, 2001;Mirabella et al, 2003). The results of the previously mentioned studies can be summarised as follows: in all species the vast majority of VIP-IR nerve fibres were localised in the mucosal layer of the SV, BU and prostate, whereas only sparse VIP-IR nerve fibres were found within the smooth muscle layer.…”

“…The general opinion is that the development and function of the ASG are influenced both by the endocrine and the nervous system. The application of histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques has revealed autonomic nerve fibres (noradrenergic and cholinergic) Acta Veterinaria Hungarica 54, 2006 in all (or specific) ASG of man (Baumgarten et al, 1968;Dunzendorfer et al, 1976;Vaalasti and Hervonen, 1980;Gu et al, 1983;Higgins and Gosling, 1989;Chapple et al, 1991;Hedlund et al, 1997;Dixon et al, 2000), rat (Owman and Sjöstrand, 1965;Sjöstrand, 1965;Vaalasti and Hervonen, 1979;Moss et al, 1987;Yuri, 1990), hamster (Chow et al, 1997), guinea pig (Owman and Sjöstrand, 1965;Sjöstrand, 1965;Al-Zuchair et al, 1975;Lamano-Carvalho et al, 1986;Sjöstrand et al, 1998), rabbit, dog, cat (Owman and Sjöstrand, 1965;Sjöstrand, 1965), pig (Kaleczyc et al, 1999;Czaja et al, 2000;Majewski et al, 2001) and even in those of the water buffalo (Mirabella et al, 2003). It is known that nerve fibres may contain substances of peptide character, which act as neurotransmitters and/or neuromodulators.…”

Immunohistochemical properties of nerve fibres supplying accessory male genital glands in the pig. A colocalisation study

“…Besides noradrenaline Immunohistochemical properties of nerve fibres supplying accessory male genital glands in the pig. A colocalisation study (and presumably acetylcholine), a variety of other substances have been identified in these nerves, such as neuropeptide Y (NPY), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), substance P (SP), enkephalins (ENK), somatostatin (SOM), serotonin, peptide histidine isoleucine, gastrin-releasing peptide, bombesin, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide, helospectin and nitric oxide synthase (Alm et al 1978(Alm et al , 1980(Alm et al , 1981Vaalasti et al 1980Vaalasti et al , 1986Gu et al 1983;Stjernquist et al 1983;Adrian et al 1984;Lamano Carvalho et al 1986;Higgins and Gosling 1989;Lange and Unger 1990;Yokoyama et al 1990;Yuri 1990;Crowe et al 1991;Properzi et al 1992;Iravani and Zar 1994;Jen et al 1995Jen et al , 1996Tainio 1995;Afonso et al 1996;Hedlund et al 1996;Chow et al 1997).…”