Identification of neuron types in the submucosal ganglia of the mouse ileum

Abstract

The continuing and even expanding use of genetically modified mice to investigate the normal physiology and development of the enteric nervous system and for the study of pathophysiology in mouse models emphasises the need to identify all the neuron types and their functional roles in mice. An investigation that chemically and morphologically defined all the major neuron types with cell bodies in myenteric ganglia of the mouse small intestine was recently completed. The present study was aimed at the submucosal ganglia, with the purpose of similarly identifying the major neuron types with cell bodies in these ganglia. We found that the submucosal neurons could be divided into three major gro..