Changes in the Neurochemical Coding of the Anterior Pelvic Ganglion Neurons Supplying the Male Pig Urinary Bladder Trigone after One-Sided Axotomy of Their Nerve Fibers.

Żaneta Listowska,Zenon Pidsudko

doi:10.3390/ijms22052231

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of unilateral axotomy of urinary bladder trigone (UBT)-projecting nerve fibers from the right anterior pelvic ganglion (APG) on changes in the chemical coding of their neuronal bodies. The study was performed using male pigs with immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). The animals were divided into a control (C), a morphological (MG) or a molecular biology group (MBG). APG neurons supplying UBT were revealed using the retrograde tracing technique with Fast Blue (FB). Unilateral axotomy resulted in an over 50% decrease in the number of FB+ neurons in both APG ganglia. Immunohistochemistry revealed significant changes in the chemical coding of FB+ cells only in the right ganglion: decreased expression of dopamine-B-hydroxylase (DBH)/tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and up-regulation of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT)/choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), galanin (GAL), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and brain nitric oxide synthase (bNOS). The qPCR results partly corresponded with immunofluorescence findings. In the APGs, genes for VAChT and ChAT, TH and DBH, VIP, and NOS were distinctly down-regulated, while the expression of GAL was up-regulated. Such data may be the basis for further studies concerning the plasticity of these ganglia under experimental or pathological conditions.

Highlights

The main source of autonomic innervation of the lower urinary tract of mammals is the pelvic plexus [1,2,3,4]
Fast Blue (FB)+ neurons were located in bilateral ganglia, and their total number was 16,539 (3308 ± 786.3 SEM)
There was a difference in their number between the right and left anterior pelvic ganglia (APG)

Summary

Introduction

The main source of autonomic innervation of the lower urinary tract of mammals is the pelvic plexus [1,2,3,4]. Its morphology is characterized by high interspecies diversity [2,3] ranging from a network containing numerous small ganglia in humans, pigs, rabbits, dogs and cats, to two clearly distinguished parts in the guinea pig: the cranial nerve network, with a large, paired ganglion called the anterior major pelvic ganglion (AMPG), and the caudal nerve network with numerous diffuse nerve ganglia [2]. Most neurons form one large ganglion, called the major pelvic ganglion (MPG) and several additional (accessory) ganglia [2,3]. Pelvic ganglia are distinguished from other ganglia of the autonomic nervous system because they have a “mixed”, sympathetic– parasympathetic character [1,2,3,5]. Adrenergic neurons dominate in the cranial ganglia, while in the caudal ganglions they occur scarcely

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