Structure of cells and nerve endings in abdominal vagal paraganglia of the rat

Abstract

The abdominal vagal paraganglia of the rat consist of small groups of cells, interspersed by blood vessels and nerve bundles and lying close to, or within, the vagus nerve or its branches. Each cell group consists of 2–10 Type I cells incompletely invested by 1–3 satellite cells. Type I cells are characterised by the presence of numerous dense-cored vesicles in their cytoplasm and may exhibit ‘synaptic’-like contact with each other. Small efferent nerve endings make synaptic contacts with Type I cells. Larger cup-shaped afferent nerve endings also make synaptic contacts of two kinds with Type I cells. Nerve-nerve synapses are often seen within or close to paraganglia. Attention is drawn to the close similarity of fine structure of abdominal vagal paraganglia, carotid body and small intensely fluorescent cells of the superior cervical ganglion in rats. Possible functional implications of this morphological similarity are discussed.