Sympathetic Reinnervation of the Rat Iris in Organ Culture

  1. Stephen D. Silberstein*,‡,
  2. David G. Johnson*,
  3. David M. Jacobowitz†, and
  4. Irwin J. Kopin*
  1. *Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014
  2. †Department of Pharmacology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104

Abstract

Reinnervation of sympathetically denervated rat iris by superior cervical ganglion cells has been demonstrated to occur in vitro. Return of [3H]norepinephrine uptake by irises incubated in contact with ganglia was associated with the reappearance of nerve fibers containing catecholamines that were demonstrable by fluorescent histochemistry. The reinnervating neurons appeared to follow the same general pattern of innervation seen in the normal iris, but the density of the neural plexus was much greater. Nerve growth factor influenced the rate and extent of innervation of the iris but not of neuronal growth within the ganglion.

Footnotes

  • ↵ ‡ Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr. Silberstein in Bethesda (Bldg. 10, rm. 2D-46).

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  1. PNAS 1971-06 vol. 68 no. 6 1121-1124
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