Summary
The morphology and intercellular relations of cells in the matrix, lower intermediate, and upper intermediate laminae of the cerebral hemisphere of rabbit embryos was studied with the electron microscope. Models of cells reconstructed from serial sections confirm previous observations made with the Golgi technique. Most cells in the matrix lamina appear to be spongioblasts; there are relatively few neuroblasts and columnar epithelial cells. Neuroblasts predominate in the intermediate lamina. Their short processes are intercalated among axons and spongioblast processes in the lower part. A large process, the preapex, distinguishes nerve cells in the upper part of the intermediate lamina, and its orientation in the direction of movement suggests that it may actively participate in the migration of neuroblasts.
Serial section analysis confirms the fact that mitotic cells in the matrix lamina are spherical and have no processes. Assuming that neuroblasts are incapable of further division, it seems probable that intermitotic germinal cells have the form of spongioblasts and columnar epithelial cells and that they give rise to neuroblasts and other spongioblasts.
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Supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Educational Foundation and a United States National Institutes of Health fellowship No. NB 28,013—Olal.
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Stensaas, L.J., Stensaas, S.S. An electron microscope study of cells in the matrix and intermediate laminae of the cerebral hemisphere of the 45 mm rabbit embryo. Z.Zellforsch 91, 341–365 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00440763
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00440763