[Abstract Title]. - Society for Neuroscience

Poster
269. Pain: Visceral Pain II
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 269.6/GG21
Topic: D.08.n. Visceral pain
Support: NHMRC Grant 400053
Title: Vagal afferent neurons innervating the adult mouse jejunum differ from spinal afferents in
their neurochemical and structural features
Authors: L. L. TAN 1 , J. C. BORNSTEIN 1 , *C. R. ANDERSON 2 ;
1 Dept Physiol., 2 Dept Anat. & Cell Biol, Univ. Of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Australia
Abstract: Sensory information from the gastrointestinal tract is conveyed to the central nervous
system by primary afferent fibres originating from the vagal sensory (nodose ganglion) and
dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. We have recently shown that the cell bodies of spinal
afferents projecting to the jejunum of the adult mouse are medium-sized and are neurochemically
defined by combinations of transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1), nitric oxide
synthase (NOS), calcitonin-gene related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP). It is unknown if
vagal afferent neurons innervating the small intestine have similar characteristics. Multiple subserosal
injections (each 0.1 κL) of cholera toxin B (CTB) were made into the jejunum of
anesthetized C57Bl/6 mice (ketamine 100 mg/kg and xylazine 10 mg/kg; n=13). A thin layer of
cyanoacrylate glue was applied over each injection site to prevent dye leakage. Multi-labelling
immunofluorescence of CTB-labelled nodose cells with antibodies specific for TRPV1, CGRP,
SP, NOS as well as binding to isolectin B4 (IB4) were performed 7 days post-operative. Soma
sizes were assessed by measuring the cross-sectional areas of nucleated cell profiles using Image
J software (NIH). CTB-labelled nodose ganglion neurons supplying the jejunum are significantly
smaller than DRG neurons supplying the same region (median areas: 295 vs 540κm 2
respectively; p