Gut hormones in Salamandra salamandra. An immunocytochemical and electron microscopic investigation

Histological, cytochemical and immunocytochemical methods were used in light and electron microscopical studies to demonstrate the presence of a neuroendocrine system in the gut of the urodele, Salamandra salamandra. Cytochemical stains capable of detecting peptide-producing endocrine cells demonstrate cells reacting with Masson's silver (argentaffin) method, Grimelius' argyrophil silver method, masked metachromasia method and the lead haematoxylin stain. Using antisera raised to a variety of mammalian gut peptides, cells containing bombesin-, gastrin-, somatostatin-, substance P- and glucagon-like immunoreactivity were indentified; vasoactive intestinal polypeptide- and substance P-like immunoreactivities were found in nerve fibres in the submucous and myenteric plexus. No immunoreactivity was detected from motilin, gastric inhibitory polypeptide, cholecystokinin or secretin. The ultrastructure of the immunoreactive cells and nerves was revealed by the semithin/thin method. All the cells indentified contained numerous electrondense secretory granules, which varied in their characteristic morphological structure from one cell type to another. The evidence collected in this study indicates that a complex neuroendocrine system regulating gut function is present in this amphibian and may have developed prior to the emergence of the phylum.