[The neuronal composition of the intramural nerve plexi of the gastrointestinal tract].

The neuronal population of the intramural ganglia of the gastrointestinal tract was studied in cats by the method of fluorescent microscopy. Three neuronal populations were revealed in the intramural ganglia of the intact animals. The first population showed no specific catecholamine fluorescence. The perikaria of the second population were not fluorescent, but there were adrenergic synapses on the surface of these nerve cells. The third population of the neurons displayed a specific catecholamine fluorescence of the perikarion and the processes. Intraperitonal injection of exogenic noradrenaline in a dose of 1 mg produced an increase in the number of the nerve cells with a specific fluorescence which permitted us to suggest that the intramural ganglia of the gastrointestinal tract contained, along with parasympathetic intramural neurons, also the sympathetic ones the majority of which were capable of specific fluorescence only after an induced elevation in them of the mediator content.