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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Chapter 20 Multiple messenger candidates and marker substances in the mammalian Merkel cell – axon complex: a light and electron microscopic immunohistochemical study

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Publisher Summary This chapter discusses multiple messenger candidates and marker substances in the mammalian merkel cell—axon complex. According to the APUD theory, cells of the diffuse neuroendocrine system (DNES) are essentially characterized by containing amines, peptides and marker substances like neuronspecific enolase (NSE) and chromogranin A (CGA). By the comparison of the histotopography of immunostained peptides, CGA and neuroendocrine markers, there was an expectation to find out the most appropriate immunohistochemical marker of the Merkel cell and to get further insight into the complex chemo-anatomy and possible functional spectrum of the Merkel cell -axon complex at various developmental stages. In analogy to the knowledge and hypothesis about the function of CGA in various other neuroendocrine cells and in conjunction with the location of CGA in secretory granules of the Merkel cell, similar roles of CGA in mammalian Merkel cells have been postulated.