Abstract
When brain tissue is homogenized in isotonic media by exposure to moderate shear forces, many of the synapses it contains survive in a morphologically intact form as subcellular particles or synaptosomes (Gray and Whittaker, 1962; De Robertis et al., 1962). When examined in the electron microscope, synaptosomes exhibit many of the same morphological features by which synapses in intact tissue are recognized (see Fig. 1). The presynaptic terminal appears as a closed sac of plasma membrane, its connection with the preterminal axon having been severed. Trapped within it are synaptic vesicles and small mitochondria together with other less structurally distinct elements of the presynaptic cytoplasm. Associated with many of these presynaptic profiles is a fragment of postsynaptic membrane attached via a morphologically distinct synaptic junction.
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Matus, A. (1978). Synaptic Membranes and Junctions from Brain. In: Korn, E.D. (eds) Methods in Membrane Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4036-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4036-2_2
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