Involvement of parasympathetic pelvic efferent pathway in psychological stress-induced defecation

Figure 5 Effects of vagotomy and rectal nerve transection on the induction of c-Fos-expressing cells in the colon after water avoidance stress. Using whole mount preparations of longitudinal muscle myenteric plexus in the proximal (A, C) and distal colons (B, D), numbers of c-Fos immunoreactive cells per ganglia in the proximal and distal colons of rectal nerve transection (RNT) rats (A, B) and vagotomy (Vag) rats (C, D) after water avoidance stress (WAS) treatment were counted and compared to those of sham stress rats. Each value represents the mean ± SE (n = 6-12 per group). ^aP < 0.05 vs sham stress rats; ^cP < 0.05 vs sham-operated (sham op) rats.