Neurochemical characterisation of sensory receptors in airway smooth muscle: comparison with pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies.

Descriptions of morphologically well-defined sensory airway receptors are sparse, in contrast to the multiplicity of airway receptors that have been identified electrophysiologically. The present study aimed at further determining the location, morphology and neurochemical coding of subepithelial receptor-like structures that have been sporadically reported in the wall of large diameter airways. The results were compared with those obtained for pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs), which are complex intraepithelial sensory airway receptors.