Effects of experimental diabetes in the noradrenergic and cholinergic nerves of the rat small intestine

An histochemical research on cholinergic and noradrenergic fibres of the adventitia layer and of the myenteric plexus of the terminal ileum from rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes, after 20 weeks of evolution of the illness, was carried out to study changes in the innervation of the gut. The cholinergic nerves, revealed through their acetylcholinesterase activity, did not present alterations, but an evident reduction in number of the noradrenergic nerves and swollen intensely fluorescent varicosities, were observed, both in the perivascular and myenteric plexus of terminal ileum from diabetic animals

Submucosal plexus of terminal ileum: a study of the cholinergic and noradrenergic nerves in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes

-In order to study the type and degree of the alterations in the innervation of the intestine in experimental diabetes, a histochemical study on the cholinergic and noradrenergic nerves of the submucosal plexus of terminal ileum from rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes was performed. The results obtained suggest that the diabetic animals keep the cholinergic activity undamaged 20 weeks after the induction of the illness, while the number of the catecholaminergic nerves appears to be markedly reduced