DISTRIBUTION OF NERVE TERMINALS (BOUTONS) IN THE HUMAN SPINAL CORD

Abstract

Reports of changes in the nerve terminals (end bulbs, Endfüsse, boutons) about the nerve cells of the spinal cord of animals following experimental resection of nerve tracts and peripheral nerves (Marinesco¹; Marui²; Miskolczy³; Hoff⁴; Foerster, Gagel and Sheehan⁵; Hoff and Hoff⁶; Fulton, Hoff and Kennard⁷; Snider⁸; Gibson⁹; Barnard,¹⁰ and Schimert¹¹) naturally raise the question of the normal morphologic characteristics of these structures and their reactions to pathologic conditions in the human spinal cord. It has been found (Minckler¹²) that the boutons of human spinal cords obtained at routine autopsies stain surprisingly well by the Cajal block silver method as used by Barr.¹³ Examination of 68 specimens revealed that the terminals could be classified into five primary morphologic groups ("types")—small loops, large loops, filamented loops, fibrillated bulbs and opaque or granular masses—and each of these groups into three