Sensory and sympathetic innervation of the mouse and guinea pig corneal epithelium

Abstract

This study used immunohistochemistry, retrograde tracing, and high-resolution confocal microscopy to explore the structure and neurochemistry of nerve terminals in the corneal epithelium of mice and guinea pigs. In both species, sub-basal nerves formed a plexus in the basal epithelium. Some axons had bulbar endings within the basal epithelium, but most projected perpendicularly from sub-basal nerves to within a few micrometers of the epithelial surface. Three morphologies for these nerve terminals were identified. Simple terminals did not branch after leaving the sub-basal nerves and ended with a single, bulbar swelling. Ramifying terminals branched in the squamous cell layer, forming horizo..