Clusters of nerve cell bodies enclosed within a common connective tissue envelope in the spinal ganglia of the lizard and rat

Cell Tissue Res. 1991 May;264(2):209-14. doi: 10.1007/BF00313957.

Abstract

A careful search for groups of nerve cell bodies enclosed within a common connective envelope was made in the spinal ganglia of the lizard and rat using a serial-section technique. Nerve cell bodies sharing a common connective envelope were found to be more common in the lizard (9.4%) than in the rat (5.6%). These nerve cell bodies were arranged in pairs, or, less frequently, in groups of three. At times, they appeared to be in immediate contact, with no intervening satellite cells; at others, they remained separated from one another by a satellite cell sheet. The clusters of nerve cell bodies enclosed within a common connective envelope probably result from the arrest of developmental processes in the spinal ganglion. It is possible that, as a result of the cell arrangement here described, certain neurons electrically influence other sensory neurons at the level of the ganglion.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Connective Tissue / ultrastructure
  • Ganglia, Spinal / physiology
  • Ganglia, Spinal / ultrastructure*
  • Lizards
  • Microscopy, Electron
  • Neurons / ultrastructure
  • Rats
  • Rats, Inbred Strains
  • Species Specificity