An intimate association of nerve fibers with the central lacteal endothelium was demonstrated in the duodenum and ileum of the monkey by immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy. In the basal portion of the central lacteal, nerve fibers containing large cored vesicles and small clear vesicles were located closely beneath the lacteal endothelium. Identification of nerves was performed by immunohistochemistry using antisera against substance P (SP), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, gastrin-releasing peptide and neuropeptide Y. These nerves contained immuno-reactivities for SP and CGRP only. Some of the nerves, either singly or in a dense bundle, indented the endothelial cells to form a conspicuous cushion protruding into the lumen. The attenuated endothelium covering the cushion occasionally was failing, and the nerves were exposed to the lumen. Tight of occasionally subendothelial nerve terminals bundles formed a synapse-like association between themselves: a swollen axonal profile was invaginated by a fingerlike projection of another axon, the latter being filled with synaptic vesicles. These results suggest that the central lacteal lymphatics might be afferently monitored, presumably with regard to the luminal pressure, and, at the same time, efferently modulated by these nerves.
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