HISTOTOPOGRAPHIC PECULIARITIES OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF INTERSTITIAL PACEMAKER CELLS (CAJAL CELLS) AND NADPH-D-POSITIVE NEURONS IN THE WALL OF THE STOMACH IN RATS
To detect the peculiarities of the distribution of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) in the wall of the stomach of adult Wistar rats, immunohistochemical method for the demonstration of c-kit (CD117) was used. The greatest relative density of the ICC was found around the perimeter of the pyloric region and in the dorsal wall of the esophageal region of the stomach. The lowest density of ICC was characteristic of the cardia. Dorsal and ventral walls of the gastric corpus had the intermediate indices of ICC density. A significant correlation between the density of ICC networks and the density of NADPH-d-positive neurons was established. The direct participation of NO-positive part of the nervous apparatus in the regulation of gastric pacemaker activity is suggested.