ABSTRACT. Abomasal disorders of calves with total vagotomy, operated on at 1 week old, were investigated with radiography and protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 immunohistochemistry. Radiographic findings indicated abomasal atony with dilatation in all calves 2 weeks after vagotomy, while 4 weeks after vagotomy abomasal dilatation was detected in 2 calves and another 2 calves showed dilatation and impaction. The densities of PGP 9.5-immunoreactive nerves in the tunica muscularis decreased significantly in the corpus region of the greater curvature 2 weeks after vagotomy and in the pyloric region of the lesser curvature 4 weeks after vagotomy, and it was at its lowest 4 weeks after vagotomy in all regions examined. In conclusion, abomasal dilatation and/or impaction in vagotomized calves confirmed by radiography were related with a decreased frequency of nerves in the tunica muscularis of the abomasum. KEY WORDS: abomasal disorder, PGP 9.5, vagotomy.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 63(6): 671-674, 2001 Gastric motility is greatly influenced by the vagus nerves whose activity is integrated by gastric centers in the medulla oblongata [6,18]. This innervation is of much greater importance in ruminants than in other species [11]. Since the abomasum retains considerable activity after vagotomy, the importance of its innervation contrasts markedly with that of the forestomach [5]. In the milk-fed calf, the abomasum has a more important role in digestion than the still undeveloped forestomach. The vagus may control abomasal motility through its innervation of the tunica muscularis. Mechanical malfunction of the abomasum in cattle might involve the disorder of vagal innervation through the dorsal and ventral vagal nerves which ramify to the abomasum [2]. Although a vagal nervous dysfunction has been suggested as a possible cause of abomasal disorders [16], vagal nerve injury in the abomasal wall is still uncertain. The distribution of vagal nerve endings in the sheep stomach has been reported after short-term vagotomy [15], however, the long-term effects of vagotomy on the mural innervation of the ruminant stomach have not been described.Radiographic studies of the abomasum of lambs and calves before and after vagotomy were mostly undertaken during motility [17] and abomasal emptying [1]. The former was a short-term investigation while the latter maintained the calf after vagotomy by cannulation feeding into the abomasum. The radiography of the long-term effects of vagotomy on the abomasum maintained with normal feeding has not yet been reported. Furthermore, radiographic findings on the functional state of the abomasum have not yet been compared with the histology of the regulatory systems in the abomasal wall.Protein gene product 9.5 (PGP) is a neuronal soluble protein distributed in the central and peripheral nervous systems of different animals [14,20]. It is useful as a general immunohistochemical marker for nervous elements and for the assessment of neuronal development and the detection of neuronal damage in diseases of the nervo...