Abnormal enteric nerve morphology in atretic esophagus of fetal rats with adriamycin-induced esophageal atresia

Gastroesophageal reflux is common in children after successful repair of es ophageal atresia (EA). and may be related to a congenital neuronal abnormal ity of the esophagus, This study employed a fetal rat model of adriamycin-i nduced EA to investigate whether the innervation of the esophagus is abnorm al in EA. The fetal rats were divided into four groups: (1) normal controls : (2) a saline-injected controls; (3) adriamycin administered but without t he development of EA, and (4) adriamycin-induced EA. The distal esophageal segments were immunostained with a general neural marker. protein gene prod uct 9.5 (PGP), Immunoreactivity per cross-sectional area (/xsa) is ns measu red with an image analyzer. The extent of the esophageal cir cumference enc ircled by PGP-stained nerve tissue was assessed. While there was no signifi cant difference in PGP immunoreactivity/xsa between the groups. the near-co mplete ring of nerve tissue along the plane of the myenteric plexus was rep laced by clusters of nerve tissue in the atretic group (normal vs EA, P = 0 .001, Mann-Whitney U test), The abnormal distribution of nerve tissue in th e atretic esophagus may be contributing factor in the esophageal dysmotilit y seen in EA.