Morphology of the Myenteric Plexus during the Postnatal Development of the Rat Gastrointestinal Tract
A Structural Study Using the Champy-Maillet (ZIO) Method
1994 Volume 47 Issue 2 Pages 123-129
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1994 Volume 47 Issue 2 Pages 123-129
The morphology of the myenteric plexus of the gastrointestinal tract during postnatal development was examined in the stomach and small intestine of newborn (about 6h after birth), 2-, 6- and 12-week-old rats using the Champy-Maillet (ZIO) method. The myenteric plexus was distributed continuously from the stomach to the ileum, even in pups immediately after birth. In particular, the network pattern of the myenteric plexus in the pylorus was denser than that in the small intestine. In the newborn rat, however, the outline of the nuclei of the enteroglial cells and ganglionic cells in the ganglion was not clear. The interstitial spaces of the network in the myenteric plexus enlarged with postnatal development of the gut, and then a compact autonomic ground plexus was constructed after repeated elongation and branching of the enteroneuronal processes.
