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Junctions in the central nervous system of the cat

II. A contribution to the tertiary structure of the axonal-glial junctions in the paranodal region of the node of ranvier

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Summary

The paranodal zone of myelinated nerve fibers from the CNS of cats has been studied by means of the lanthanum technique and after freeze-etching. Special interest was given to the axonal-glial zones of contact in this region. Examination of the membranes of the paranodal pockets and the axolemma revealed that the membrane thickenings which occur between the adjacent membranes actually consist of bands. The bands show a specific pattern of diagonal running subunits 10 nm apart. These substructures of the axonal side of the membrane contacts protrude outwards, i.e. towards the glial membrane, where they fit into depressions on the glial membrane surface. This arrangement in form of a “zip-fastener” makes the whole structure very flexible. The subdivision of the bands was identified with both techniques. The different membrane aspects obtained by the freeze-etching technique are discussed in respect to the splitting theory, and a hypothetical model of this membrane specialization is presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Topographische Anatomie, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Germany

    R. Dermietzel

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  1. R. Dermietzel
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Dedicated to Prof. Dr. med. Brettschneider on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, “Sonderforschungsbereich 114 (Bionach)”

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Dermietzel, R. Junctions in the central nervous system of the cat. Cell Tissue Res. 148, 577–586 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00221941

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00221941

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