REGULATORY PEPTIDES IN THE HUMAN LARYNX AND RECURRENT NERVES

We studied the peptide-innervation of the human larynx (vocal cord, ve ntricular folds, epiglottis, subglottic region and the recurrent nerve s) using immunocytochemical and radioimmunological methods. In the tis sues of the larynx investigated, the following regulatory peptides wer e detected: vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), peptide histidine methionine (PHM), helospectin, neuropeptide Y (NPY), C-flanking pepti de of NPY (C-PON), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), substance P and neurokinin. In the recurrent nerves only small numbers of peptide -immunoreactive nerve fibers were found. Most of them showed positive immunoreactivities with antibodies to PHM, NPY and C-PON, but only rar e and scattered nerve fibers were positive for VIP-, CGRP- and substan ce P.