Ultrastructural identification of substance P cells and their processes in rat sensory ganglia and their terminals in the spinal cord by immunocytochemistry.
The unlabeled substance P (SP) antibody-peroxidase-antiperoxidase reaction was used on tissue prior to embedding in epoxy reins for ultrastructural identification of the SP cell and its immunoreactive granules. The SP cell is 10-20 mum in diameter and has sparse cytoplasm with numerous intensely reactive SP granules 100-300 nm across, large clear vacuoles, elaborate smooth endoplasmic reticulum, fragmentary rough endoplasmic reticulum, dispersed ribosomes, few mitochondria, and a modest Glogi apparatus. The large SP-reactive granules are discharged into the extracellular space, either with cell membrane intact or as unbound dense material. The membrane-bound dense granucles are transported intact through endothelial cells into the blood or are picked up by Schwann cells and fibroblasts. Other SP-reactive granules lose their limiting membranes, fragment, and then disperse into fine immunoreactive grains that bind to the extracellular matrix and to collagen. Dispersed SP-reactive granules are transported within myriad pinocytotic vesicles across endothelial cells with numerous luminal plications and are discharged into the blood. Pinocytosis of dispersed SP-reactive material, that can be detected intracellularly, also occurs in Schwann cells and fibroblasts. The SP axons to the substantia gleatinosa are unmyelinated or finely myelinated. Their synaptic varicosities display a generalized axoplasmic immunoreactivity, which also occurs in and around small vesicles. The larger SP synaptic vesicles are intensely reactive.
D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D051381:Rats; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D013373:Substance P / Q000032:analysis*
D013373:Substance P