Ultrastructural neurohistochemical evidence for a neuro-endocrine link in the regulation of the extra-hepatic biliary...

Electron microscopical neurohistochemical studies of the choledocho-duodenal junction of the cat revealed acetylcholinesterase-positve nerve terminals closely abutting on ("ectopic"), mono-amine(s)-containing alpha-cells (of the islets of Langerhans) scattered in small clusters between bundles of the sphincteric smooth muscle (of Oddi). The cell membrane of the alpha-cells at and near the site of the neuro-effector contacts was reactive, too. This finding may be considered as some evidence for cholinergic innervation of cholinoceptive neuro-endocrine cells, and obviously represents one of the neuro-endocrine links involved in the regulation of the extra-hepatic biliary dynamics, demonstrated earlier in physiological and pharmacological studies.