The Nikon MicroscopyU confocal microscopy image gallery was created with a PCM-2000 confocal scanning system interfaced to a Nikon Eclipse E600 upright microscope. Images were recorded in successive z-axis serial sections with C-Imaging Systems software with excitation illumination provided by an argon-ion and/or a helium-neon laser.

	Interactive Java Tutorial
ATTENTION Our servers have detected that your web browser does not have the Java Virtual Machine installed or it is not functioning properly. Please install this software in order to view our interactive Java tutorials. Visitors using the Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers can download the appropriate software from the websites where the browsers are distributed. Please do not contact us for information about specific URLs where this software can be obtained.

Back to the first confocal sequence of Meissner's Plexus.

The Meissner's plexus is an interlacing collection of nerves that connects the outlying smooth muscles to the innermost mucous membranes that line the stomach and intestines. In the western world, an anxious feeling is often referred to as having "butterflies in the stomach" and inexplicable premonitions as "gut feelings". Traditionally, eastern cultures have held this digestive organ in very high esteem. In ancient Japan, the stomach was considered to be the center of one's being and, instead of wishing from the heart, one wished from the stomach. In Hinduism, the stomach is ranked before the heart and symbolizes the third chakra or focal point of personal energy, which is comprised of the ego.

Although the function of the Meissner's plexus is not completely understood, the neural network may actually work to inhibit muscular contractions that occur within the stomach. In the intestines, these groups of nerves are generally believed to excite wavelike muscle movements, referred to as peristalsis, which help convey food particles through the winding tracts as well as induce the release of digestive secretions. Activation of the nerve bundles seems to occur when the stomach and intestinal fibers become stretched during the course of digestion.