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Structure and innervation of the pineal gland of the rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.)

III. An electron microscopic investigation of the innervation

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Summary

In the rabbit pineal gland two types of postganglionic nerve endings were found which are characterized by the presence of small dense-core vesicles or small clear vesicles. Pharmacological and cytochemical experiments showed them to be noradrenergic and cholinergic, respectively. Both types were often present in the same nerve bundle, occasionally in close apposition. Intrapineal neurons were only rarely observed. They showed cholinergic synapses on their perikaryon and dendrites as well as noradrenergic axo-dendritic close eontacts. Bilateral extirpation of the superior cervical ganglia revealed the postganglionic sympathetic origin of the pineal noradrenergic nerve fibres. Moreover, it appeared that these ganglia are hardly, if at all, involved in the pathway of pineal cholinergic innervation. The results obtained from lesions of both facial nerves, taken together with the results reported in the literature, led to the conclusion that the postganglionic cholinergic nerve fibres in the pineal are of parasympathetic origin. A model for the sympathetic and parasympathetic pineal innervation is proposed.

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  1. Department of Electron Microscopy, Netherlands Central Institute for Brain Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    H. J. Romijn

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Romijn, H.J. Structure and innervation of the pineal gland of the rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.). Cell Tissue Res. 157, 25–51 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00223229

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