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Elementary granules, small vesicles and exocytosis in the rat neurohypophysis after acute haemorrhage

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Summary

Neural lobes of rats subjected to severe acute haemorrhage under sodium pentobarbitone anaesthesia were examined electron microscopically and the ultrastructure compared with that in anaesthetised and unanaesthetised controls. Changes in the localisation and numerical distribution of elementary granules and small vesicles in the neurohypophysial nerve endings of bled rats were consistent with the occurrence of exocytosis. The occurrence of “exocytotic profiles” was observed more frequently in freeze-etched tissue samples as compared with the material fixed for conventional electron microscopy. The ratio of small vesicles: elementary granules was shown to be significantly increased (P<0.005) in the nerve endings of neural lobes from bled rats. Equally, the numbers of exocytotic profiles related to 1000 μm2 of neurohypophysial tissue area were significantly greater (P<0.005) in bled rats.

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The study was supported by Medical Research Council of Canada. The authors are grateful to Dr. W. Costerton, Biology Department, The University of Calgary, for use of facilities for freeze-etching, and to Miss Y. Carter for technical assistance.

Research Associate, Consejo Nacional de Investigationes Cientificas y Tecnicas, Argentina.

Associate, Medical Research Council of Canada.

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Santolaya, R.C., Bridges, T.E. & Lederis, K. Elementary granules, small vesicles and exocytosis in the rat neurohypophysis after acute haemorrhage. Z.Zellforsch 125, 277–288 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00306626

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