Ultrastructural examination of B-50(GAP-43) immunoreactivity in rat jejunal villi

The lamina propria of rat jejunum is densely innervated with nerve fibres extending to the tips of the villi. A large number of these nerve fibres were previously shown to be B-50-immunoreactive at the light microscope level, whereas neurofilament immunoreactivity was found to be sparse in the mucosa. In this study we used immunoelectron microscopy to determine what proportion of nerve fibres in the lamina propria express B-50. Jejuna from male Lewis rats were immunolabelled for B-50 and neurofilament proteins. For electron microscopy, postembedding immunogold-silver techniques and LR White embedded tissues were used. Light microscopical immunostaining was performed by the streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase technique on deparaffinized tissue sections. We found that all ultrastructurally identifiable nerve profiles in jejunum were B-50 immunoreactive. Immunoelectron microscopy for neurofilament proteins failed to label fibres in the villi, whereas myelinated nerves in tongue sections processed in parallel (positive controls) were strongly neurofilament-protein-immunoreactive. The dominant B-50-positive and neurofilament-protein-negative phenotype supports the hypothesis of ongoing modelling or plasticity of intestinal mucosal nerves.