Endocrine cells in atresic chick embryo intestine:histochemical and immunohistochemical study

摘要

Intestinal motility disorders are an important problem in thepostoperative management of patients with intestinal atresia.Intestinal motility could be initiated by luminal factors thatactivate intrinsic and extrinsic primary afferent nerves involvedin the peristaltic reflex. Endocrine cells act as a key point,because they transfer information regarding the intestinal con-tents and intraluminal pressure to nerve fibers lying in closeproximity to the basolateral surface of the epithelium. In chickembryo, experimental intestinal atresia is associated with dis-orders in the development of the enteric nervous system, relat-ed to the severity of intestinal dilation. Our aim was to investi-gate the distribution pattern of endocrine cells in the develop-ing endocrine system of chick embryo small intestine withexperimentally-induced atresia on day 12 and on day 16.Changes in enteroendocrine population were examined in gutspecimens (excised proximal and distal to the atresia) fromexperimental embryos 19 days old and in control sham-oper-ated chick embryos at the same age. Sections from proximaland distal bowel and control bowel were stained withGrimelius silver stain, a valuable histochemical method fordetecting the argyrophil and argentophilic cells, and with animmunohistochemical procedure for detecting serotonin andneurotensin immunoreactive cells. In chick embryo proximalbowel, intestinal dilation differed in the various embryos. Wefound significantly higher enteroendocrine cell counts in prox-imal bowel than in distal and control bowel. The differencesdepended on the precociousness of surgery and the severityof dilation. Considering the major contribution of enteroen-docrine cells to the peristaltic reflex, our data may help toexplain the pathogenesis of motility disorders related to intes-tinal atresia.