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Freeze‐fracture studies on the synapses in the organ of corti
Author(s) -
Gulley R. L.,
Reese T. S.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.901710407
Subject(s) - organ of corti , efferent , postsynaptic potential , hair cell , outer hair cells , synapse , chinchilla , biology , neuroscience , membrane , afferent , anatomy , biophysics , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , cochlea , receptor , biochemistry
Receptoneural junctions and synapses in the organ of Corti of the chinchilla have been examined with the freeze‐fracture technique. The presynaptic membranes at the receptoneural junctions of inner and outer hair cells have many structural features in common with membranes found at chemical synapses outside the organ of Corti. However, the membranes of the postsynaptic afferent terminals are quite different depending on whether they are part of an inner or outer hair cell synapse. These differences in the distribution of intramembrane particles suggest that the transmitters, or transmitter actions, may be different at these two synapses. The distribution of particles in the postsynaptic membrane at efferent synapses with outer hair cell differs from that in the postsynaptic membrane at efferent synapses with afferent terminals or fibers, suggesting that transmitter actions at these locations could also differ.