期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1977
卷号:74
期号:12
页码:5707-5710
DOI:10.1073/pnas.74.12.5707
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Immunoreactive gastrin was present in vagal nerves from cats, dogs, and human beings. The abdominal portion of the vagus contained gastrin in amounts ranging from 16 to 273 pmol/g of nerve tissue (wet weight). The thoracic and cervical portion of the vagi contained only minute amounts of gastrin. Gel chromatography of extracts of human, canine, and feline abdominal vagi monitored by region-specific antisera against heptadecapeptide gastrin and triacontatriapeptide cholecystokinin revealed that the vagal gastrin immunoreactivity predominantly consisted of heptadecapeptide gastrin. In addition, the vagi contained small amounts of the NH2-terminal tridecapeptide gastrin fragment as well as of the putative biosynthetic gastrin precursors, components I and II. No cholecystokinin-like molecules were demonstrable. Immunocytochemical studies demonstrated gastrin-containing nerves in the intestinal wall. The nerves were found to be most numerous in the large and distal small intestine. These findings suggest that heptadecapeptide gastrin may represent a new vagal neurotransmitter.