©2009 European Journal of Histochemistry

Intestinal motility disorders are an important problem in the postoperative management of patients with intestinal atresia. Intestinal motility could be initiated by luminal factors that activate intrinsic and extrinsic primary afferent nerves involved in the peristaltic reflex. Endocrine cells act as a key point, because they transfer information regarding the intestinal con-tents and intraluminal pressure to nerve fibers lying in close proximity to the basolateral surface of the epithelium. In chick embryo, experimental intestinal atresia is associated with dis-orders in the development of the enteric nervous system, relat-ed to the severity of intestinal dilation. Our aim was to investi-gate the distribution pattern of endocrine cells in the develop-ing endocrine system of chick embryo small intestine with experimentally-induced atresia on day 12 and on day 16. Changes in enteroendocrine population were examined in gut specimens (excised proximal and distal to the atresia) from experimental embryos 19 days old and in control sham-oper-ated chick embryos at the same age. Sections from proximal and distal bowel and control bowel were stained with Grimelius silver stain, a valuable histochemical method for detecting the argyrophil and argentophilic cells, and with an immunohistochemical procedure for detecting serotonin and neurotensin immunoreactive cells. In chick embryo proximal bowel, intestinal dilation differed in the various embryos. We found significantly higher enteroendocrine cell counts in prox-imal bowel than in distal and control bowel. The differences depended on the precociousness of surgery and the severity of dilation. Considering the major contribution of enteroen-docrine cells to the peristaltic reflex, our data may help to explain the pathogenesis of motility disorders related to intes-tinal atresia. Key words: avian embryo, ontogeny, endocrine cells, intestin-al atresia, immunohistochemistry