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Ultrastructural organization of posterior and anterior barrels in the somatosensory cortex of rat
Author(s) -
PatelVaidya U.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.490140308
Subject(s) - somatosensory system , ultrastructure , anatomy , cortex (anatomy) , biology , sensory system , neuroscience , axon
The somatosensory barrels in layer IV of rat cerebral cortex were studied on uniformly oriented, serial, tangential sections by a combination of light microscope and ultrastructural techniques. Section orientation between sections was maintained by blood vessel patterns. The principal elements of both anterior and posterior barrels were quantified and analyzed in relation to proportional content and nonrandom spatial arrangement over depth in layer IV. Elements studied in this manner included neurons, myelinated axons, apical dendrites, synapses, glial cells, and blood vessels. In general, constituents were found to be arranged in a highly ordered fashion similar to other discretely organized sensory cortical areas. Myelinated axons outlined the basic structure of the barrels with the osmium stainig employed. Neurons appeared organized in small clusters. In addition apical dendrites, synapses, and blood vessels also exhibited nonrandom distribution complementary to the organization of axons and neurons. Anterior and posterior barrels differed slightly in their organization of elements.