XXXX acetyltransferase-immunoreactive neurones in a prevertebral sympathetic ganglion, the inferior mesenteric ganglion.

@entity129 @entity4268 @entity840 @entity1877 @entity35 @entity1943 @entity669
Using immunohistochemical techniques a small population of @entity1877 acetyltransferase ( @entity4268 ) immunoreactive (IR) neurones has been identified in the inferior mesenteric ganglion (IMG) of @entity840 (4.6% of all neurones), ferret (6.4%) and @entity35 (0.4%). A detailed study in the @entity840 IMG revealed that the vast majority of cholinergic neurones did not express @entity669 hydroxylase (TH)-IR, indicating that they were non-catecholaminergic. The cholinergic neurones were significantly larger than the TH-positive neurones. The majority of the @entity4268 -IR cells (64%) was observed in small clusters which were consistently located in the caudal lobe of the IMG close to the @entity129 . 83% of the @entity4268 -IR cells also contained neuropeptide Y (NPY). Since the vast majority of TH-negative cells were @entity4268 -positive (94%), the TH negativity was taken as an indirect indication for @entity4268 -IR. NPY-IR, @entity1943 (SOM)-IR and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-IR were found in both the TH-IR cells (22, 84 and 1%, respectively) and the putative cholinergic population (95, 84 and 70, respectively). Thus the majority of cholinergic neurones in the IMG were likely to contain NPY, SOM and VIP. TH-IR cells exhibited an extensive innervation of fibers immunoreactive for @entity4268 , VIP, ENK and NOS. In contrast, only a sparse plexus of @entity4268 -, ENK-, NOS-, NPY- and SOM-positive fibres was found around the TH-negative cells. VIP-IR fibres did not appear to innervate @entity4268 neurones.
