Synopsis
Catecholamines were demonstrated histochemically in the superior cervical ganglion of albino rats aged o (newborn), 3, 6, 12, 24 or 90 days (adult). After freezing in propane at −190°C, the ganglia were driedin vacuo at −50°C for a week and embedded in epoxy resin. Fluorescence microscopy was carried out with maximum excitation at about 400 nm and emission above 460 nm, avoiding fading due to over-exposure to u.v. light. Most sympathicoblasts in the ganglia of newborn rats exhibited a weak, blue fluorescence which was evenly distributed throughout the cytoplasm. Most cells were still weakly fluorescent in rats 3 and 6 days old, although the number of more intensely fluorescent cells increased with age. The size and the fluorescence intensity of the nerve cells increased with development until the adult stage. The cytoplasmic fluorescent granular aggregates were first seen in the peripheral cytoplasm of nerve cells of 12-day-old rats, and in the ganglia of 24-day-old rats the peripheral granules showed the adult picture. Fluorescent processes were seen to emerge from nerve cells of 3-day-old rats, but fluorescent nerve fibres were first seen between the nerve cell bodies in the ganglia of 6-day-old rats, and intensely fluorescent granular formations appeared in the intercellular nerve cell processes in 24-day-old rats. Small intensely fluorescent cells were already numerous at birth and at all stages of development were easily discriminated from sympathicoblasts and the developing nerve cells by virtue of their much smaller size.
It is concluded that the nerve cell perikaryon matures when rats are 3 weeks old, which coincides with the maturation of the peripheral nerve net in peripheral target organs. This maturation is characterized by the appearance of a granular pool of catecholamines in the perikaryon and the terminal nerve fibres, corresponding to clusters of small granular vesicles at the ultrastructural level.
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This study was carried out in the University of Helsinki during the academic year 1970–1. The manuscript was completed in the University of Melbourne, where the author was a Sunshine Foundation and Rowden White Overseas Research Fellow from September 1971 to August 1972.
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Eränkö, L. Postnatal development of histochemically demonstrable catecholamines in the superior cervical ganglion of the rat. Histochem J 4, 225–236 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01890994
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01890994