title: A morphometric analysis of the autonomic innervation of cat tracheal glands.
abstract: Quantitative methods have been used to examine the distribution of adrenergic and cholinergic axon varicosities to serous and mucous cells of cat tracheal glands. Cats were injected with 5-hydroxydopamine (5-OHDA) prior to removal of the trachea in order to fill adrenergic vesicles with intensely osmiophilic material. This facilitated the identification of adrenergic varicosities and provided a means by which they could be easily discriminated from cholinergic varicosities. Of all varicosities identified within 10 micrometer of the glands, 90% were cholinergic and 10% were adrenergic. Most of these varicosities were present in interstitial bundles located between acini. A small number of cholinergic varicosities, however, were located within 20 nm of acinar cells, forming close contact junctions. No differential innervation of serous and mucous cells was observed.
mesh_terms: D000320:Adrenergic Fibers / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000818:Animals; D001338:Autonomic Fibers, Postganglionic / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D001369:Axons / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002415:Cats; D002799:Cholinergic Fibers / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005088:Exocrine Glands / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009093:Mucus / Q000378:metabolism*; D014132:Trachea / Q000294:innervation*