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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2019 Jul 3;1454(1):14–30. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14138

Figure 7.

Figure 7.

Vagal afferents innervate villi and crypts (or intestinal glands) throughout the small intestines. Panel A illustrates a villus ending (brown neurites labeled with dextran-biotin) in the distal jejunum. Vagal villus afferents throughout the small intestine issue multiple branches that course along the basal side of the epithelial wall and run apically to the villus tips. Several adjacent villi can be innervated by one afferent arbor. Along the small intestine, the vagal villus afferents exhibit local specializations with, generally, more numerous branches in individual villi in the proximal intestines and less numerous branches in the distal intestines. Panel B illustrates the arbor of a villus crypt—or gland—afferent (brown neurites labeled with dextran-biotin) encircling multiple neighboring glands immediately below intestinal villi. This afferent, located in the distal duodenum, characteristically links several neighboring glands into a presumptive receptive field. Scale bars = 100 μm.