Summary
Previous studies have indicated that fractions of unmyelinated axons can be obtained from cerebellum, whole brain or forebrain. It seemed likely that unmyelinated axons break into segments upon homogenization and that any circumscribed region of brain containing abundant unmyelinated axons could be found to yield axonal fractions. Caudate-putamen material was used to test this hypothesis. Fractions analogous to cerebellum were obtained from sucrose gradients and were found to yield abundant axonal profiles which could be correlated with the appearance of unmyelinated axons after sucrose immersion in situ. We conclude that fractions of unmyelinated axons can likely be obtained from any anatomical region rich in them and can be used upon purification for obtaining chemical data from different axonal types.
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Supported in part by NIH Grant 2-RO-1 NS-09745.
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Lemkey-Johnston, N., Larramendi, L.M.H. Identification of unmyelinated axons in fractions from caudate-putamen in the rat. Exp Brain Res 17, 124–132 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235021
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235021