IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION OF 5-HYDROXYTRYPTAMINE, HISTAMINE AND HISTIDINE-DECARBOXYLASE IN THE RAT MAJOR PELVIC AND CELIAC-SUPERIOR MESENTERIC GANGLION

The localization of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), histamine and histidine decarboxylase (HDC), the enzyme synthesizing histamine, was studied in the rat major pelvic and coeliac-superior mesenteric ganglia by an indirect immunofluorescence technique. Small cells (10-20 mu-m in diameter) exhibiting 5-HT, histamine or HDC immunoreactivities were observed in clusters or occurred as solitary cells in both ganglia. In the major pelvic ganglia, solitary histamine-immunoreactive principal neurons were also observed. Cololization studies indicated that all 5-HT-, histamine- and HDC-immunoreactive small cells in these ganglia were labelled with tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), suggesting that they are small intensely fluorescent (SIF) cells. In the coeliac-superior mesenteric ganglia, all TH-immunoreactive SIF cells were also intensely immunoreactive for 5-HT and HDC. In the major pelvic ganglia, all TH-immunoreactive SIF cells contained 5-HT immunoreactivity, and the majority of them were also intensely immunoreactive for HDC. In both ganglia, however, only a subpopulation of TH-immunoreactive SIF cells displayed histamine immunoreactivity. The results indicate that in the rat major pelvic and coeliac-superior mesenteric ganglia, a population of catecholamine-containing SIF cells contain 5-HT and histamine suggesting a diverse role SIF cells may have in so far as modulation of ganglion transmission is concerned.