PEPTIDERGIC NERVE FIBERS IN HUMAN STOMACH AND DUODENAL BULB: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION OF CHANGES IN FIBER DISTRIBUTION IN CHRONIC GASTRITIS

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Abstract
Para-benzoquinone-fixed frozen sections of human stomach and duodenal bulb were used for the immunohistochemical localization of peptidergic nerve fibers. Nerve fibers immunoreactive to vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) were richly distributed along capillaries in the fundic mucosa. In fundic mucosa with chronic atrophic gastritis, including intestinal metaplasia, GRP fibers were characteristically decreased while the distribution of VIP fibers showed little change. In the antral and duodenal mucosa, GRP fibers were normally sparse. VIP and neuropeptide Y (NPY) fibers were rich in the lamina muscularis mucosae, particularly in the fundic mucosa, where NPY fibers extended into the lower layer of the mucosa. Substance P (SP) fibers were rich in the duodenal bulb mucosa, scattered in the antral mucosa, but rare in the fundic mucosa. Methionine-enkephalin-Arg-Gly-Leu fibers were predominantly distributed in the proper muscle layer, and sparse in the mucosa and lamina muscularis mucosae. In addition, dense VIP, fibers and fewer SP fibers were present in the proper muscle layer. Calcitonin gene-related peptide fibers were present only in the pyloric ring muscle. Such a selective distribution of neuropeptide-containing fibers suggests special roles of the neuropeptides in the respective sites in the stomach.