Innervation of congenitally hydronephrotic and normal porcine upper urinary tract.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the intrinsic innervation of the upper urinary tract in congenitally hydronephrotic and normal Goettingen minipigs, using the whole-mount preparation technique.


METHODS
Whole-mount preparations of hydronephrotic (two with bilateral ectopic ureters, one with left distal ureteric stenosis) and normal (three) porcine upper urinary tracts were examined by immunohistochemistry with tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and neurofilament and by histochemical staining with NADPH-diaphorase and acetylcholinesterase. Staining results were evaluated using normal bright-field and confocal laser scanning microscopy.


RESULTS
Neurofilament-, TH-immunoreactive and acetylcholinesterase-positive nerve fibres and neuronal networks were identified in the adventitial, muscle and subepithelial layers of the whole upper urinary tract. An NADPH-diaphorase-positive network was expressed in the subepithelial layer and less densely in the muscle layer. The general distribution of the identified neuronal networks was similar in hydronephrotic and normal upper urinary tracts, but the density of these neuronal networks was less in the former. The most striking observation was the absence or marked reduction of neuronal networks in the stenotic part of the ureter in the pig with left distal ureteric stenosis.


CONCLUSIONS
Whole-mount preparations provide a method for assessing the three-dimensional topography of neuronal networks in the different layers of the porcine upper urinary tract. Although the macroscopic differences between the hydronephrotic and normal porcine upper urinary tracts were striking, changes in the innervation pattern were less obvious, except in distal ureteric stenosis.
Rolle
U
U
Department of Paediatric Surgery, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. udorolle@yahoo.com
Andersen
H L
HL
Puri
P
P
Djurhuus
J-C
JC
D000818:Animals; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic; D006869:Hydronephrosis / Q000151:congenital* / Q000473:pathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D013552:Swine; D014517:Ureteral Obstruction / Q000473:pathology; D014551:Urinary Tract / Q000294:innervation*