Acetylcholinesterase in blood vessels of the guinea-pig ovary during different phases of the reproductive cycle

Synopsis

The distribution of acetylcholinesterase-containing blood vessels in the ovary has been investigated histochemically during the reproductive cycle of the guinea-pig. Whole mounts as well as frozen sections have been studied. Stained vessels were found in the stroma throughout the oestrous cycle and pregnancy. In the corpus luteum the vascular reaction varied at different stages of the oestrous cycle; while never very pronounced it was more marked in lactating than in non-lactating animals. A few vessels in the corpus luteum of early pregnancy showed some reaction but as pregnancy advanced an increasing number of vessels were strongly stained. At the end of pregnancy, stained vessels were less prominent.

acetylcholinesterase appeared to be localized principally in the vessels themselves (possibly in muscle cells) rather than is associated nerves. Experiments in which ovaries were injected, via their arterial or venous supply, with starch or coloured gelatine suggested that most stained vessels were arterioles but a reaction also occurred in some vessels which were probably arteries and others which could have been the postulated arterio-venous shunts. Capillaries were unstained; whether the veins were also totally unreactive could not be established.

The significance of the changes in acetylcholinesterase staining in varying functional states remains obscure; they may or may not reflect the emergence of certain types of vessel at different stages.