Influenza del microambiente perineuronale sullo sviluppo delle propaggini del corpo delle cellule nervose dei gangli spinali

To investigate whether the outgrowth of the slender projections arising from the Perikaryon of spinal ganglion neurons is influenced by environmental factors or is solely controlled by factors intrinsic to the neuron, we have examined nerve cell bodies arranged in pairs. These nerve cell bodies, which can occasionally be found in spinal ganglia, are in immediate contact with each other along more or less extensive portions of their surfaces, while along the remaining portions of their surfaces they contact satellite cells. For each nerve cell body we have, therefore, quantitatively compared the extent of the projections on portions of the surface which are under the control of the same intrinsic factors, but are in contact with different microenvironments. By means of a quantitative study carried out on 104 paired neurons in the spinal ganglia of 3 adult rats, we have found that the overall development of the perikaryal projections is significantly greater in those portions of the surface in contact with satellite cells than in the portions in contact with another neuron. This result suggests that the outgrowth of perikaryal projections is influenced by environmental factors. Further investigations are required to characterize these factors.