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In present study, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-immunoreactivity in the dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) observed to distinguish the cell distribution, size and characteristics. CGRP-immunoreactivity was identified in the cervical (C₁ and C_5), thoracic (T_6 and T_(11)), lumbar (L₂ and L₄) and sacral (S₁ and S₃) DRG of Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats. The relative abundance of DRG neurons containing CGRP-immunoreactivity was significantly different within segmental levels. DRG of lumbar level contained the greatest number of CGRP-immunoreactive neurons, whereas DRG of cervical level contained the fewest. Number of CGRP-immunoreactive neurons increased significantly from C₁ to L₂, and decreased from L₂ to S₃. CGRP-immunoreactive neurons generally ranged from 200 to 600㎛² (15∼65㎛). These results indicate that CGRP-immunoreactive neurons occur in the small-, medium- and large- neurons. Furthermore, the distribution of these neurons must be different according to each levels in the DRGs of WKY rats.
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