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/lp/rockefeller-university-press/synapses-in-the-central-nervous-system-MABYrjNOf5
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- Publisher
- Rockefeller University Press
- Copyright
- © 1956 Rockefeller University Press
- ISSN
- 0021-9525
- eISSN
- 1540-8140
- DOI
- 10.1083/jcb.2.4.193
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
A number of different synapses have been described in the medulla, cerebellar cortex, and cerebral cortex of the rat. All of these possess the same fundamental fine structure as follows: 1. Close apposition of the limiting membranes of presynaptic and postsynaptic cells without any protoplasmic continuity across the synapse. The two apposed membranes are separated by a cleft about 200 A wide, and display localized regions of thickening and increased density. 2. The presynaptic expansion of the axon, the end-foot or bouton terminal, contains a collection of mitochondria and clusters of small vesicles about 200 to 650 A in diameter. Although the significance of these structures in the physiology of the synapse is still unknown, two suggestions are made: that the mitochondria, by means of the relation between their enzymatic activity and ion transport, participate in the electrical phenomena about the synapse; and that the small synaptic vesicles provide the morphological representation of the prejunctional, subcellular units of neurohumoral discharge at the synapse demanded by physiological evidence.
Journal
The Journal of Cell Biology – Rockefeller University Press
Published: Jul 25, 1956