Summary
Light, fluorescence and electron microscope studies of chicken and chick embryo aorta reveal the occurrence of cell masses without the characteristics of smooth muscle cells situated within the media, in the transitional region between the aortic arch and the descending thoracic aorta. The cell masses consist of two cell types: one type (G cells) contains large numbers of cytoplasmic granules (900–2200 Å in diameter); the other cell type consists of Schwann cell-axon complexes. G cells are innervated by monoaminergic nerve fibres considered to be efferent ones. Some G cells are in contact with endothelial cells or medial smooth muscle cells. G cells appear in the aortic wall at 9 days in ovo; they do not regress in old chickens.
The administration of reserpine results in reduction of the electron opacity of the granules in G cells.
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Ookawara, S., Suzuki, K., Yoshida, Y. et al. Monoamine-storing cells in the media of the thoracic aorta of Gallus domesticus . Cell Tissue Res. 151, 309–316 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00224541
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00224541