[Morphologic basis for the common action of the nervous and hormonal control of gastric activity]

In adult dogs and white Wistar rats, relationships between the automonic nerve endings, mucosal endocrine cells, mast cells, and blood capillaries in the gastric wall were studied with the aid of electron microscopy. A close association of 3 components of the regulatory mechanisms: neural, hormonal, and humoral, in the form of the triad comprising endocrine cells, autonomic nerve endings, and blood capillaries, was revealed, with no true synapses between them. Accumulations of the granules of the endocrine cells, synaptic vesicles of the autonomic nerves, and the pinocytose vesicles of the capillary endothelium were seen at inner surface of the cells' membranes which is the morphological indication of the physiological function. The data obtained suggest that the interaction between the 3 above components is realised through the diffuse synapses, and indicate that the interstitium of the digestive tract wall is the area of integration of the neural and the hormonal links of neuro-homoral visceral reflexes.