Effects of long-term laxative treatment on neuropeptides in rat mesenteric vessels and caecum

In order to investigate the toxic effects of long-term treatment with anthraquinone laxatives, rats were fed either chocolate alone, or chocolate adulterated with senna or danthron (1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone) for 5 months. Mesenteric blood vessels and the outer muscle layers of the caecum, together with the myenteric plexus, were examined using ultrastructural, histochemical, immunohistochemical and immunoassay techniques. There was no ultrastructural evidence of degeneration in either the mesenteric vessels or the caecum. In the mesenteric vessels, levels of neuropeptide Y were significantly reduced in the danthron-fed rats, but levels of substance P (SP), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) were unaffected by all treatments. In the caecum, VIP-, SP- and CGRP-immunoreactivity and catecholamine-fluorescence were unchanged by the laxative treatments.