The origins of the adrenergic fibres which innervate the internal anal sphincter, the rectum, and other tissues of the pelvic region in the guinea-pig

Abstract

The adrenergic innervation of the pelvic viscera was examined by the fluorescence histochemical technique, applied to tissue from untreated guinea-pigs and from guinea-pigs in which nerve pathways had been interrupted at operation. It was found that adrenergic neurons in the inferior mesenteric ganglia give rise to axons which run in the colonic nerves and end in the myenteric and submucous plexuses and around the arteries of the distal colon. In the rectum, part of the innervation of the myenteric plexus and all of the innervation of the submucous plexus comes from the inferior mesenteric ganglia. The rest of the adrenergic innervation of the myenteric plexus comes from the posterior pelvic..