On the axonal migration of catecholamines in constricted sciatic nerve of the rat. A radioautographic study.

The radioautographic technique has been used to study the axonal migration of catecholamines in sympathetic fibres of the sciatic nerve of rats after ligature. A first series of experiments aimed at ascertaining the capacity of the proximal portion of adrenergic fibres to take up and store exogenous tritiated catecholamines (3H-DOPA; 3H-DA and 3H-NA) 3 to 22 hours after ligation. The results are qualitatively similar in rats pretreated and non-pretreated with IMAO, but the intensity of the radioautographic reaction is lower in the latter cases. Most of the labeled axons are filled mainly with vesicular and tubular profiles of endoplasmic reticular origin, large dense bodies (probably lysosomes) and/or mitochondria. The silver grains are generally superimposed on the vesicular and/or the tubular profiles, but in some cases on the large dense bodies, suggesting that exogenous catecholamines can be stored in lysosomes. The question whether SGV specifically store catecholamines also in the modified adrenergic fibres has been investigated in KMnO4 fixed material. These results show that beside a large number of fibres in which there is a strict correlation between labeling and SGV, some fibres containing SGV do not retain the 3H-NA. Conversely some fibres which contain mainly agranular vesicles display radioautographic reaction. Therefore, in case of ligated fibres, SGV cannot be considered the specific organelles for storage of catecholamines.