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Immunohistochemical localization of serotonin in intrapulmonary neuro-epithelial bodies

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Summary

A recently developed immunohistochemical technique for serotonin (Steinbusch et al. 1978) was used in the present investigation to study the occurrence of this indoleamine in the granulated epithelial cells of neuroepithelial bodies (NEB). Lungs from neonatal rabbits and pigs exhibit immunoreactive cell groups identical in morphology and their preferential location (i.e., at bronchiolar bifurcations) to the recently described intrapulmonary NEB. Moreover, in the trachea and lung of rabbits isolated immunoreactive cells, presumably of Kultschitsky type, were found in the lining respiratory mucosa. Such single cells were also frequently observed in the bronchial epithelium of pig lungs. It is concluded that the corpuscular cells, being modulated by the central nervous system, probably represent intrapulmonary neuro(chemo-)receptors with local secretory activities, one of the substances released being serotonin and reacting to the oxygen composition of the inhaled air. It is proposed that the cells of Kultschitsky type exert a more local effect upon the airways.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, School of Medicine, Laboratory of Histophatology, Leuven, Belgium

    J. M. Lauweryns & V. de Bock

  2. Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Katholieke Universiteit te Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    A. A. J. Verhofstad & H. W. M. Steinbusch

Authors
  1. J. M. Lauweryns
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  2. V. de Bock
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  3. A. A. J. Verhofstad
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  4. H. W. M. Steinbusch
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Send offprint requests to: Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, School of Medicine, Laboratory of Histopathology, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

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Lauweryns, J.M., de Bock, V., Verhofstad, A.A.J. et al. Immunohistochemical localization of serotonin in intrapulmonary neuro-epithelial bodies. Cell Tissue Res. 226, 215–223 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00217095

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