Fig. 5.

Three myenteric ganglia of the megacolonic, seropositive, male patient aged 59 years, stained for human neuronal protein Hu C/D (HU), neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and common choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). a is from the oral, b from the dilated (mega), c from the anal part of the resected specimen. In all three ganglia (a–c), a honeycomb-like structure is obvious (asterisks). In a, the quantitative relation between NOS- and ChAT-neurons is largely balanced, in b, there are only NOS-neurons (exemplarily: arrows), in c, NOS- outnumber ChAT-neurons strikingly (exemplarily: arrows and arrowheads, respectively). Mainly in b, the neurons are distinctly deformed. In a–a″, a neuron immunoreactive for HU (green; filled triangle) but neither for NOS nor for ChAT (empty triangles) is marked. Bar 50 μm