Abstract
Zinc transporter 3 (ZnT3), a member of the SLC 30 zinc transporter family, is involved in the transport of zinc ions from the cytoplasm into synaptic vesicles or intracellular organelles. The aim of the present study was to investigate for the first time the percentage of ZnT3-like immunoreactive (ZnT3-LI) neurons in the enteric nervous system (ENS) of the porcine esophagus and denotation of their neurochemical coding. Routine double- and triple-immunofluorescence labeling of cervical, thoracic, and abdominal fragments of esophagus for ZnT3 with protein gene product (PGP 9.5; used as pan-neuronal marker), nitric oxide synthase (NOS), somatostatin, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), neuropeptide Y (NPY), and galanin (GAL) was performed. The percentage of ZnT3-LI neurons in myenteric ganglia amounted to 50.2 ± 4.7, 63.4 ± 8.3, and 77.1 ± 1.1 % of all PGP 9.5-like immunoreactive neuronal cells in cervical, thoracic, and abdominal esophagus, respectively. In submucous ganglia, these values in particular parts of esophagus amounted to 46.3 ± 6.3, 81.0 ± 8.1, and 74.4 ± 4.4 %. Znt3 co-localized mainly with VAChT, NPY, GAL, NOS, and VIP, but the degree of co-localization depended on the “kind” of enteric ganglia and part of esophagus studied. The obtained results suggest that both ZnT3 and zinc ions may play important and various roles in the neuronal regulation of esophageal functions.
Highlights
The enteric nervous system (ENS) is made up of millions of neuronal cells located in the wall of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract from esophagus to anus (Furness et al 2014)
The present study describes for the first time the localization and chemical coding of Zinc transporter 3 (ZnT3)-like immunoreactive neurons within the enteric nervous system of porcine esophagus and may be the introduction for further investigations on exact functions of Znt3 within the digestive system
Note that PGP 9.5 is a pan-neuronal marker that marks all neurons in the tissue, and so, PGP+ /ZnT3+ cells illustrate the percentage of ZnT3positive neurons
Summary
The enteric nervous system (ENS) is made up of millions of neuronal cells located in the wall of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract from esophagus to anus (Furness et al 2014). The ENS consists of the following two kinds of intramural ganglia: myenteric ganglia (MG), which are connected to each other by density network of nerves and create myenteric plexus located between the longitudinal and circular muscle layers, as well as submucous ganglia (SG), which not form a plexus and situated near the lamina propria of the mucosal layer (Teixeira et al 2001; Zacharko-Siembida and Arciszewski 2014; Chiocchetti et al 2015; Rekawek et al 2015). In small and large intestine of big mammals (for example in pig), submucous plexus is divided into outer submucous plexus located near internal side of the circular muscle layer and inner submucous plexus—between the muscularis mucosa and lamina propria (Brown and Timmermans 2004; Gonkowski et al 2009a, 2012a). The ENS takes part in the regulation of all functions of the GI tract, such as intestinal motility, excretive activity of the mucosal layer, fluid exchange between the wall of stomach
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