Synthesis, and central and peripheral axonal transport of substance P in a dorsal root ganglion-nerve preparation in vitro.

A preparation of the rat L5 dorsal root ganglion with 6 mm lengths of dorsal root and peripheral branch attached was incubated in vitro over a 9 h period. The substance P-like immunoreactivity (SPLI) of the preparation increased linearly with time and SPLI was transported down both branches. The turnover-time of ganglion SPLI was 3.6 h. Four times as much SPLI accumulated in the peripheral branch as in the dorsal root. When axonal transport was inhibited by demecolcine, SPLI was formed at the same rate but accumulated in the ganglion. Anisomycin inhibited SPLI synthesis after a delay of 2 h. It was apparent that the SPLI of the preparation was contained in two pools, only one of which underwent rapid axonal transport. The mobile pool of axonal SPLI comprised 30% of the total and moved with a velocity of 4.9 mm . h-1.