Summary
In the present study the central innervation of the guinea-pig pineal gland was investigated. The habenulae and the pineal stalk contain myelinated and non-myelinated nerve fibres with few dense-cored and electron-lucent vesicles. Some myelinated fibres leave the main nerve fibre bundles, lose their myelin-sheaths and terminate in the pineal gland. Although direct proof is lacking, the non-myelinated fibres appear to end near the site where the bulk of the myelinated fibres are located. Here a neuropil area exists where synapses between non-myelinated fibre elements are abundant. Neurosecretory fibres were also seen. The results support the concept of functional interrelationships between hypothalamus, epithalamus and the pineal gland.
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Schneider, T., Semm, P. & Vollrath, L. Ultrastructural observations on the central innervation of the guinea-pig pineal gland. Cell Tissue Res. 220, 41–49 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00209964
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00209964