The innervation of the adrenal cortex in the sheep, Ovis ovis
Robinson, P.M.; Perry, R.A.; Hardy, K.J.; Coghlan, J.P.; Scoggins, B.A.
Journal of Anatomy 124(Pt 1): 117-129
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-8782 PMID: 914697 Document Number: 118467
The distribution of nerve fibers within the sheep adrenal cortex in the normal animal and after surgical denervation of the gland was determined using Ag impregnation, catecholamine histochemistry, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) histochemistry and EM. Thick bundles of AChE-positive fibers ran through the cortex to the medulla. Other, finer, nerve trunks were distributed within the cortical parenchymal tissue and formed a distinct plexus, which contained small AChE-positive cell bodies, in the region of the reticularis. Aminergic axons were sparse and were restricted to the outer zones of the cortex. EM revealed small axon bundles and individual axons lying between, and occasionally very close to, cortical parenchymal cells. A significant number of these axons contained quantities of large granular vesicles. Ag techniques showed only some of the fibers demonstrated by the other methods. Sectioning the splanchnic nerves caused some of the cortical AChE-positive fibers to degenerate. Stripping the adventitia of the adrenal arteries had a similar effect on the aminergic fibers. It was concluded that AChE-positive nerve cell bodies and axons, which probably receive preganglionic innervation from the splanchnic nerve, lie within the cortical tissue and a sparse postganglionic aminergic innervation enters the gland via the supplying arteries.