Substance P and neurokinin A are codistributed and colocalized in the porcine gastrointestinal tract

Immunoreactive substance P and neurokinin A were measured with radioimmunoassay in extracts of different segments of porcine gastrointestinal tract using C-terminally directed antisera. In all segments, the concentrations of substance P and neurokinin A were similar. The largest concentrations of both peptides were found in the mid-colon. By gel chromatography and reversed-phase high pressure liquid chromatography the immunoreactivity in extracts from ileum eluted as homogenous peptides at the positions of synthetic substance P and neurokinin A, respectively. No neurokinin B was found. By immunohistochemistry of porcine duodenum, jejunum, ileum and mid-colon, identical localization patterns were found for substance P and neurokinin A, and the two peptides demonstrated by double immunofluorescence to be colocalized in the enteric nervous system of the ileum. We conclude that the tachykinins substance P and neurokinin A are codistributed and colocalized in the procine gastrointestinal tract and suggest that the two peptides are produced from a common precursor, beta- and/or gamma-preprotachykinin, in the same neurons.