Abstract
The autonomic innervation of parietal cells involved in hydrochloric acid secretion in the fundic mucosa of rat stomach was studied using histochemical and electron microscopic cytochemical techniques.
The gap between the axonal membranes of the cholinergic, probably parasympathetic, nerve and the parietal cell plasma membrane is approximately 700Å, which is the distance corresponding to the muscarinic cholinergic synapse at peripheral level. The acetylcholinesterase (AChE) reaction products are located both on the parietal cell plasma membrane and on the cholinergic nerve endings, and the ultrastructural changes of the parietal cell are in parallel with the changes in histochemical activity of AChE. These findings provide an evidence for supporting the concept that the parietal cell is directly regulated by the parasympahetic nerve.
