The Distribution of Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide‐like, Substance P‐like and Bombesin‐like Immunoreactivity in the Digestive System of the Sheep

Abstract

SUMMARYPeptides which are possibly related to the non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic division of the autonomic nervous system have been identified by immunofluorescence in the digestive system of mature sheep. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-, substance P-, and bombesin-like immunoreactivity were localized in neural elements throughout the ovine gastrointestinal tract (g.i.t.). Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-like immunoreactivity (VIP-l.i.) was demonstrable in the submaxillary, parotid and the sublingual salivary glands close to small blood vessels and the acini. VIP-li. was also demonstrable in the upper oesophagus in connective tissue near small blood vessels. In the forestomachs, abomasum, and small and large intestines reactive fibres were present in the mucosa, submucosa, smooth muscle layers and the plexuses. The plexuses also contained reactive nerve cell bodies. VIP-reactive fibres were found in the pancreas, the gall bladder and the common bile and pancreatic duct but were not found in the intestinal mesentery, portal vein, and liver tissue. Substance P-like immunoreactivity (SP-l.i.) was demonstrable in nerve fibres in all the layers of the g.i.t. and in nerve cell bodies in the gut plexuses. The pancreas and the gall bladder also contained a few scattered fibres. Additionally, SP-l.i. was present in open-type endocrine cells throughout the mucosa of the small and large intestines but no SP-l.i. was found in the salivary glands or the oesophagus. Bombesin-like immunoreactivity (B-li.) was associated with nerve fibres and was demonstrable in the mucosa and myenteric plexuses throughout the g.i.t. B-l.i. in the smooth muscle appeared to be restricted to nerve fibres in the forestomachs, the abomasum, and the upper small intestine. No B-li. was found in the salivary glands, oesophagus, liver tissue, pancreas, gall bladder or intestinal mesentery.

Myenteric neurons of the ileum that express somatostatin are a target of prion neuroinvasion in an alimentary model of sheep scrapie

“…However, if blood-borne prion were relevant to enteric neuroinvasion early in disease, then it would be reasonable to expect relatively higher frequency PrP Sc detection in vasomotor neurons. Vasomotor neurons have not been extensively studied in large mammalian species but probably include subgroups of VIP + and SP + neurons [44,51]. The relative frequency of PrP Sc detection in VIP + and SP + neurons, however, was not increased in either plexus (Fig.…”

“…In sheep, mucosal nerve Wbers include those that express VIP, SP, NOS [8,27,51], and also SOM (Fig. 7).…”

Effects of the vagus nerves on gastric motility and release of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide in the anaesthetized lamb.

“…Some of the observations reported here have been presented previously in a preliminary form (Reid, Shulkes & Titchen, 1984, 1986. Animals METHODS Twenty-four Merino or Merino cross lambs (7-26 kg) were used in these experiments.…”

Substance P-Immunoreactive Neurons of the Bovine Forestomach Mucosa: Their Presumptive Role in a Sensory Mechanism.

“…Immunohistochemistry has been used to study peptide-containing nerves in the stomach of cattle (KITAMURA et al, 1986(KITAMURA et al, , 1987a and sheep (WATHUTA, 1986;WATHUTA and HARRISON, 1987;WEYNS et al, 1987). Although previous studies had described the distribution of mucosal nerve fibers, these studies about peptide-containing nerves concentrated primarily on the muscle layer and the myenteric plexus.…”