Figure 5

(a) Two PNEC stained with CGRP, shown as lumen view (upper panels) and rotated through 90 deg (lower panels). Each of the latter reveal a brightly staining process that issues from their cell body toward lumen whereas the cell bodies (left side of each panel) and other processes show weaker staining. Bar = 20 μm. (b) Wholemount of airway mucosa stained for CGRP. A network of weakly staining CGRP varicose nerves and a single PNEC is present. The top panel is the lumen view (0°), followed by rotations of 30°, 60° and 90°. One fiber exhibits brightly stained varicosities at the apparent point of contact with the PNEC. Rotating the field demonstrates that nerves run from below the base of the PNEC prior to ascending to it. Other ascending fibers are present in the left side of the field. The horizontal lines are a consequence of the limited number of Z steps in the confocal data set. Bar = 20 μm.