[Morphological study on innervation of the cerebrospinal blood vessels. II. Spinal blood vessels]

The distribution patterns of aminergic and cholinergic nerve fibers in the feline spinal blood vessels were studied by means of amine histofluorescence and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) staining. The anterior spinal artery had a dense network of aminergic and AChE-positive (probably cholinergic) nerve fibers. The posterior spinal vein, in contrast, had only aminergic nerve fibers. Intraparenchymal small blood vessels in the spinal cord also had strongly fluorescent (probably peripheral) aminergic nerve fibers. This was quite a characteristic feature in the spinal cord. The distribution pattern and the density of these two sorts of nerve fibers widely varied with the individual segment of the spinal cord. The thoracic spinal cord had the lowest number of these nerve fibers throughout the spinal cord. This fact may give a clue to explain why the thoracic spinal cord is most susceptible to ischemic change.