A comparison of the density of microtubules in the central and peripheral axonal branches of the pseudounipolar neurons of lizard spinal ganglia

Abstract

The number and density of microtubules were determined in cross sections of the two branches (central and peripheral) of the bifurcating axon of the pseudounipolar neurons of the lizard thoracic spinal ganglia. In both the central and peripheral branches the average number of microtubules rose, while the microtubular density decreased with an increase in the cross‐sectional area of the axonal branch: More precisely, a linear relationship was observed between the logarithm of the microtubular density and the cross‐sectional area of the axonal branch. Both the average number of microtubules per cross section of the axonal branch and the microtubular density were found to be significantly lower in the central than in the peripheral branch. Since the amount of material carried by fast transport was found by other authors to be greater in the peripheral than in the central branch, a positive correlation seems to exist between microtubular density and the quantity of material carried by fast transport along the two branches of the axon in pseudounipolar neurons. Such a correlation suggests that microtubules may be somehow involved in the fast transport of material along the axon. The average densities of microtubules were found to be the same comparing two sets of unmyelinated and myelinated central (or peripheral) branches of corresponding size. Therefore, different microtubular densities usually observed in unmyelinated and myelinated axons appear to be correlated with the different size ranges of the two types of axon rather than with the absence or presence of the myelin sheath.