AUTONOMIC AND PEPTIDERGIC INNERVATION OF THE HUMAN LARYNX

Autonomic and peptidergic innervation of the human larynx (vocal cords , ventricular folds, epiglottis, subglottic region and recurrent nerve s) was studied by application of single and double immunocytochemistry and radioimmunoassay. In all tissues investigated, immunoreactivities for a variety of regulatory peptides were detected and included vasoa ctive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), peptide histidine methionine (PHM) , helospectin, neuropeptide Y (NPY), C-flanking peptide of NPY (C-PON) , calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), substance P and neurokinin A . In the recurrent nerves, only a few peptide-immunoreactive nerve fib ers were found. The laryngeal region of the epiglottis and the subglot tic region showed characteristic corpuscular nerves containing substan ce P and CGRP running underneath and within the epithelium.