Neuropeptidergic innervation of human nasal mucosa in various pathological conditions

This study aims to investigate the roles of neuropeptides in the pathophysiology of human nasal diseases. By using immunohistochemistry and radioimmunoassay, we detected the presence, distribution and concentrations of the following neuropeptides in human nasal tissue: vasoactive intestinal peptides (VIP), neuropeptide Y (NPY), substance P (SP), and calcitonin gene-related peptides (CGRP). This was performed in human nasal inferior turbinate mucosa from 20 patients with allergic rhinitis, twenty-five patients with chronic hypertrophic rhinitis and 10 patients without any nasal disease conditions. The presence and distribution of NPY. CGRP and SP fibers among the three subject groups displayed no evident differences. VIP fibers were densely stained around the vessels in the allergic group. In contrast, these fibers were more prominently distributed around the submucosal glands of the chronic hypertrophic rhinitis group. The concentration of VIP and SP in human nasal inferior turbinate showed a significant increase in allergic subjects. Thus, VIP may be revelant to the hypertrophic changes of the nasal mucosa. Both SP and VIP may play significant neuroimmunological roles in the pathogenesis of allergic rhinitis.