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Myenteric denervation differentially reduces enteroendocrine serotonin cell population in rats during postnatal development

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Summary

The enteric nervous and enteroendocrine systems regulate different processes in the small intestine. Ablation of myenteric plexus with benzalkonium chloride (BAC) stimulates epithelial cell proliferation, whereas endocrine serotonin cells may inhibit the process. To evaluate the connection between the systems and the influence of myenteric plexus on serotoninergic cells in rats during postnatal development, the ileal plexus was partially removed with BAC. Rats were treated at 13 or 21 days and sacrificed after 15 days. The cell bodies of myenteric neurons were stained by β NADH-diaphorase to detect the extension of denervation. The number of enteroendocrine cells in the ileum was estimated in crypts and villi in paraffin sections immunostained for serotonin. The number of neurons was reduced by 27.6 and 45% in rats treated on the 13th and 21st days, respectively. We tried to establish a correlation of denervation and the serotonin population according to the age of treatment. We observed a reduction of immunolabelled cells in the crypts of rats treated at 13 days, whereas this effect was seen in the villi of rats denervated at 21 days. These results suggest that the enteric nervous system might control the enteroendocrine cell population and this complex mechanism could be correlated to changes in cell proliferation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Morphophysiologycal Sciences Department, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Avenida Colombo, 5790, CEP 87020-900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil

    Luzmarina Hernandes, Lucieni Cristina Marques da Silva Pereira & Priscila de Freitas

  2. Department of Morphological Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences of Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Marilda da Cruz Fernandes & Eliana Parisi Alvares

  3. Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Patrícia Gama

Authors
  1. Luzmarina Hernandes
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  2. Marilda da Cruz Fernandes
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  3. Lucieni Cristina Marques da Silva Pereira
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  4. Priscila de Freitas
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  5. Patrícia Gama
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  6. Eliana Parisi Alvares
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Correspondence to Luzmarina Hernandes.

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Hernandes, L., Fernandes, M., Pereira, L. et al. Myenteric denervation differentially reduces enteroendocrine serotonin cell population in rats during postnatal development. J Mol Hist 37, 95–100 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-006-9016-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-006-9016-y

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