THE FINE STRUCTURE OF INHIBITORY SYNAPSES IN THE CRAYFISH
Open Access
- 1 October 1961
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Rockefeller University Press in The Journal of cell biology
- Vol. 11 (1), 157-169
- https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.11.1.157
Abstract
Physiological investigations have shown that the synaptic input to the sensory neuron of the stretch receptor in the abdominal muscles of the crayfish is purely inhibitory. This neuron was chosen, therefore, as a site in which to study the fine structure of inhibitory synaptic endings. It was hoped that this fine structure might (a) provide a morphological prototype for the study of more complex synaptic systems and (b) reflect the inhibitory mechanisms. Stretch receptors were fixed in situ in buffered OsO4, dehydrated, and embedded in Araldite. Both cross and longitudinal sections were examined after staining with phosphotungstic acid. The inhibitory endings were easily identified by their great similarity to previously described excitatory endings. Small circular profiles (synaptic vesicles) about 460 A in diameter and an accumulation of mitochondria were consistently observed within the presynaptic endings. An increased osmiophilia of pre- and postsynaptic membranes, where they were in apposition, was also seen. The only observed difference between these inhibitory endings and excitatory endings, described by other authors, was the variable presence of a latticework of 230 A tubules in the connective tissue immediately adjacent to the inhibitory endings. Inhibitory endings were observed on all parts of the sensory neuron except the axon.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- CHOLINESTERASE IN THE CRUSTACEAN MUSCLE RECEPTOR ORGANJournal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry, 1960
- Physiological and structural changes at the amphibian myoneural junction, in the course of nerve degenerationThe Journal of Physiology, 1960
- Potassium Ions and the Inhibitory Process in the Crayfish Stretch ReceptorThe Journal of general physiology, 1959
- MECHANISM OF GAMMA AMINOBUTYRIC ACID (GABA) ACTION AND ITS RELATION TO SYNAPTIC INHIBITIONJournal of Neurophysiology, 1958
- The site of impulse initiation in a nerve cell of a crustacean stretch receptorThe Journal of Physiology, 1958
- Synapses in the superior cervical ganglion and their changes under experimental conditions.1958
- Submicroscopic morphology and function of the synapse.1958
- ACETYLCHOLINE METABOLISM AT NERVE-ENDINGSBritish Medical Bulletin, 1957
- MICROANATOMY OF THE ABDOMINAL STRETCH RECEPTORS OF THE CRAYFISH (ASTACUS FLUVIATILIS L.)The Journal of general physiology, 1955
- SYNAPTIC INHIBITION IN AN ISOLATED NERVE CELLThe Journal of general physiology, 1955