Summary
The terminal parts of radially directed neurite bundles growing out from chick embryo spinal cord in vitro have been examined by phase and electron-microscopy,
A type of ending is described in which the terminal parts of the neurites are associated with a glial cell. The latter sends a single major process proximally towards the explant. Distally it is attached to the substrate, and the neurite ends are related to its dorsal (nonsubstrate) aspect. Appearances suggesting a mechanism of adhesion of neurites to each other and to the gial cell are described.
“Growth vesicles” were found in both neurites and glia.
It is suggested that movements of terminal glial cells may affect the pattern of outgrowth of their attached neurite bundles.
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We are grateful to the Medical Research Council for financial assistance, to Mr. A. Aldrich and Mr. D. Gunn for photography, to Mr. P. Howell and Miss 0. Chmyliwsky for technical assistance, and to Mrs. B. Fisher for valued secretarial help.
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Grainger, F., James, D.W. Association of glial cells with the terminal parts of neurite bundles extending from chick spinal cord in vitro . Z. Zellforsch. 108, 93–104 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335945
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335945