Peripheral Nervous System: Enteric Nervous System

The enteric nervous system is the intrinsic innervation of the gastrointestinal tract. It is made up of ganglia and the nerves emanating from these neurons. It has the characteristics of the central nervous system in that there are glia, but no Schwann cells or fibroblasts or other connective tissue elements in the ganglia.

#39 Colon, Monkey (H&E, thin plastic section)

With the naked eye, one can easily distinguish on this slide between the region of the epithelium and the pink (acidophilic) region of the smooth muscle. The myenteric plexus of Auerbach is located between the two layers of smooth muscle. Locate neuronal cell bodies within the ganglia. What other types of cell would you expect to find in these ganglia?

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