Summary
Within the gray matter and the white matter of the spinal cord of apparently healthy rabbits, myelinated and unmyelinated axonal swellings, so called “axonal spheroids”, occur. Most of the spheroids contain mitochondria, dense bodies, vesicles and fragments of the tubular or smooth endoplasmic reticulum. In myelinated spheroids the process of swelling is effected by slippage of the myelin leaflets. At the periphery of the unmyelinated parts of the spheroids, synapses are regularly found. The presynaptic terminal bouton is formed by the spheroid. A few myelinated and unmyelinated spheroids are packed with fine granular material while mitochondria are lacking. The axonal spheroids may represent a physiological, perhaps age dependent phenomenon.
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Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Berta Scharrer on the occasion of her 70th birthday
The author wishes to thank Mrs. Helga Zuther-Witzsch, Mrs. Elisabeth Schöngarth and Miss Hildegard Schöning for excellent technical assistance. Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Projekt Le 69/7-13
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Leonhardt, H. “Axonal spheroids” in the spinal cord of normal rabbits. Cell Tissue Res. 174, 99–108 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00222153
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00222153