Immunohistochemical characteristics of nerve fibres supplying the porcine vas deferens. A colocalisation study

 Double-labelling immunofluorescence was used to investigate the coexistence of the catecholamine-synthesising enzymes, tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine-β-hydroxylase and several neuropeptides including neuropeptide Y, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, Leu⁵-enkephalin, somatostatin, calcitonin gene-related peptide and substance P in nerve fibres supplying the vas deferens in juvenile and adult pigs. The study has revealed three major populations of nerve terminals innervating the organ: (1) noradrenergic fibres; (2) non-noradrenergic (putative cholinergic) fibres containing vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, neuropeptide Y and somatostatin, supplying almost exclusively the lamina propria; and (3) non-noradrenergic, presumably sensory fibres, containing calcitonin gene-related peptide and substance P. The population of noradrenergic nerves can be divided into three subpopulations: a somatostatin-containing, a Leu⁵-enkephalin-containing and a subpopulation immunonegative to the peptides investigated, in descending order of magnitude. Coexistence patterns of the substances existing within nerve fibres supplying the vas deferens blood vessels are clearly different from those found in nerve fibres innervating the organ wall. The majority of the noradrenergic fibres associated with blood vessels contain neuropeptide Y only, while non-noradrenergic perivascular nerves contain predominantly vasoactive intestinal polypeptide. The possibility of different sources of origin of the particular nerve fibre subpopulations supplying the porcine vas deferens and its blood vessels is discussed. Accepted: 23 October 1996