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Ultrastructural characteristics of layer III pyramidal neurons in the cat primary auditory cortex (Al)

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Electron microscope studies were made of retrogradely horseradish peroxidase-labeled pyramidal neurons forming transcallosal projections in layer III of the cat primary auditory cortex (Al). These showed a significant proportion of the somatic membrane to be covered with processes of astroglia, while synapses occupy 20% of the synaptic surface on average. Between 4 and 10 axosomatic synapses were identified on the profiles of callosal cell somata. All these were formed by axonal terminals containing small, flattened synaptic vesicles and had symmetrical contacts. Average length of these synaptic contacts equaled 1.6 µm. Numerous anterogradely horseradish peroxidase-labeled axonal terminals of callosal fibers were found in cortical area Al in amongst retrogradely HP-labeled neurons. The ultrastructural pattern of these is described.

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Authors
  1. Yu. A. Gonchar
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  2. V. A. Maiskii
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Additional information

A. A. Bogomolets Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 520–526, July–August, 1990.

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Gonchar, Y.A., Maiskii, V.A. Ultrastructural characteristics of layer III pyramidal neurons in the cat primary auditory cortex (Al). Neurophysiology 22, 389–395 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052481

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052481

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