Neuroendocrine cells in the urogenital tract of the buffalo

Neuroendocrine cells or paraneurons are cytotypes producing biogenic amines and/or hormonal peptides, scattered in the glandular and lining epithelia of the body. In this study the presence of chromogranin A-, serotonin- and somatostatin-immunoreactive neuroendocrine cells has been described immunohistochemically in the urethro- prostatic complex and female urethra of subjects of the buffalo Bubalus bubalis. The chromogranin A- containing neuroendocrine cells resulted the most numerous cytotype, the serotonin- containing ones the most irregular in shape for the presence of dendritic-like cytoplasmic extensions and the somatostatin- containing the rarest. The role played by the amine serotonin in the genital tract has been related to the determinism of sexual climax and to the contraction of smooth muscle. The function played by the neuroendocrine genital somatostatin is unknown. Analogically to what described for the same gastrointestinal hormone, it could inhibit both exocrine and endocrine secretions