Histochemical Studies of Uterine Innervation after Neurectomies

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Abstract
The distribution of nerves of the uterus containing acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and catecholamine (CA) was studied with light microscopic histochemical techniques after sympathectomy, parasympathectomy, and removal of the paracervical ganglion in the rat. A rich plexus of AChE‐containing nerves was present both in the myometrium and around the uterine blood vessels. Nerve fibres exhibiting CA fluorescence were abundant around the blood vessels, but only sparse in the myometrium. Sympathectomy resulted in the disappearance of CA‐containing perivascular nerve fibres but left intact the extravascular myometrial nerve fibres: those containing CA and those containing AChE. Parasympathectomy caused a slight decrease in the perivascular AChE‐containing fibres. On the other hand it had no effect on the myometrial AChE‐ or CA‐containing nerve fibres. Bilateral destruction of the paracervical ganglion resulted in the complete disappearance of AChE‐ and CA‐containing fibres, both around the blood vessels and in the myometrium.