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Non-lipid osmiophilic granules in the presynaptic neuroplasma of the boutons

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Summary

Brain, spinal cord and peripheral (sensory and sympathetic) ganglia of cats and rats have been fixed in Susa, imbedded and impregnated on slides with a mixture of osmium tetroxide and egg albumen solution.

This method produced small (about one micron) black granules in the boutons around the multipolar nerve cells in the cord and in the medulla. The granules were absent around the other nerve cells in the cortex (pyramidal cells, etc.) and in the peripheral ganglia.

These osmiophilic granules may be clusters of synaptic vesicles containing transmitter substance. If the clusters are large enough, as in the boutons, they are visible under the light microscope, if they are smaller;, as in the smaller synaptic knobs, they remain invisible.

If the osmiophilic granules are clusters of vesicles containing the transmitter substance, this substance might be an acidic amino acid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University, Dept. of Anatomy of Pretoria, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa

    Peter von Mihálik

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  1. Peter von Mihálik
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von Mihálik, P. Non-lipid osmiophilic granules in the presynaptic neuroplasma of the boutons. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 75, 537–541 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00341511

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00341511

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