Occurrence of FMRF amide-like immunoreactive nerve fibers in guinea pig small intestine.

Abstract

We investigated the distribution of FMRF amide-like immunoreactivity in the small intestine of the guinea pig. Immunoreactive nerve fibers were found mainly in the myenteric and submucous plexuses and in the inner circular muscle layer. The labeled processes contained variable proportions of small clear vesicles 30-40 nm in diameter and large granular vesicles 80-120 nm in diameter. The large granular vesicles showed heavy immunoreactivity. The antisera against FMRF amide crossreact with peptides belonging to the pancreatic polypeptide family; it has therefore been suggested that the FMRF amide immunoreactivity demonstrated in the small intestine is caused by a peptide that is biosynthetically related to, but not necessarily a member of, the pancreatic polypeptide family.