C. Xue et al., IDENTIFICATION OF INTERSTITIAL-CELLS IN CANINE PROXIMAL COLON USING NADH DIAPHORASE HISTOCHEMISTRY, Histochemistry, 99(5), 1993, pp. 373-384
In gastrointestinal muscles special cells, referred to as interstitial
cells, may be involved in pacemaking and transduction of inputs from
the enteric nervous system. We have used a modification of the NADH di
aphorase method to characterize the distribution of interstitial cells
in the muscularis externa of the canine colon. The staining product o
f the NADH diaphorase reaction is useful because it allows light and e
lectron microscopic studies to be performed with the same marker. Ther
efore rigorous identification of the cells observed at the light micro
scopic level could be made by electron microscopy. We were able to lab
el at least three classes of interstitial cells: (1) at the submucosal
surface of the circular muscle layer; (2) within the thickness of the
circular and longitudinal muscle layers; and (3) in the region of the
myenteric plexus. This technique also labeled cell bodies and initial
segments of processes of Dogiel type II neurones in enteric ganglia.
Nerve fibres within the muscle layers did not exhibit NADH diaphorase
activity. This study has identified the interstitial cells within the
circular and longitudinal muscle layers and shows the arrangement of t
hese cells in a three-dimensional network.