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Topographic variations in rat brain oligodendrocyte morphology elucidated by injection of Lucifer Yellow in fixed tissue slices

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Journal of Neurocytology

Summary

Visualisation of oligodendrocytes by fluorochrome labelling in fresh tissue is a relatively recent innovation, but its widespread applicability in comparative analyses between different regions of the brain has been hampered by the limited survival time of excised preparations. We here applied the technique of impaling and injecting these cells with Lucifer Yellow in fixed tissue slices. Using confocal laser scanning microscopy, we reconstructed the three-dimensional forms of oligodendrocytes derived from the optic nerve, corpus callosum, cerebellum and spinal cord of young adult rats. Differences in shape and size of the cell body, in the number of internodal segments supplied by a single cell, as well in their spatial orientation, and in the thickness of the myelinated fibre, were observed between the four white matter tracts analysed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Histology and General Embryology, University of Fribourg, CH-1705, Fribourg

    Eduardo Weruaga-Prieto & Marco R. Celio

  2. Institute of Anatomy, University of Bern, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Peter Eggli

Authors
  1. Eduardo Weruaga-Prieto
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  2. Peter Eggli
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  3. Marco R. Celio
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Weruaga-Prieto, E., Eggli, P. & Celio, M.R. Topographic variations in rat brain oligodendrocyte morphology elucidated by injection of Lucifer Yellow in fixed tissue slices. J Neurocytol 25, 19–31 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02284783

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02284783

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