title: Neuroepithelial bodies not connected to pulmonary slowly adapting stretch receptors.
abstract: Neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs) are believed to be connected with one of the known types of airway receptors. The present studies determined whether NEB afferents are pulmonary slowly adapting stretch receptors (SARs). NEBs are immunoreactive with antibodies against protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), whereas SARs are reactive with antibody to Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase. Using histochemical staining in combination with confocal microscopy, we compared the morphology of NEBs and SARs in the rat. Our results show that NEBs and SARs are different in location, size, and shape. Double staining of airway tissues for PGP (or CGRP) plus Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase shows that NEBs and SARs do not co-localize. In addition, we electrophysiologically recorded single-unit activity of SARs from the cervical vagus nerve, identified their receptive fields, dissected them into blocks, and then double-stained and examined the receptor structures. We found that the blocks contain the SAR, but not NEB structures. Thus, we conclude that NEBs are not connected to SARs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics, Ambulatory Care Building, 3rd floor, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA. j0yu0001@gwise.louisville.edu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology; D001980:Bronchi / Q000294:innervation*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide / Q000378:metabolism; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D046568:Neuroepithelial Bodies / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D011661:Pulmonary Stretch Receptors / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C489034:UCHL1 protein, rat; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide