Comparative studies on the growth of the cerebral cortex. VI. Part I. On the increase in size and on the developmental changes of some nerve cells in the cerebral cortex of the albino rat during the growth of the brain. Part II. On the increase in size of some nerve cells in the cerebral cortex of the Norway rat (Mus norvegicus), compared with the corresponding changes in the albino rat

Comparative studies amongst extant species are one of the pillars of evolutionary neurobiology. In the 20th century, most comparative studies remained restricted to analyses of brain structure volume and surface areas, besides estimates of neuronal density largely limited to the cerebral cortex. Over the last 10 years, we have amassed data on the numbers of neurons and other cells that compose the entirety of the brain (subdivided into cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and rest of brain) of 39 mammalian species spread over 6 clades, as well as their densities. Here we provide that entire dataset in a format that is readily useful to researchers of any area of interest in the hope that it will foster the advancement of evolutionary and comparative studies well beyond the scope of neuroscience itself. We also reexamine the relationship between numbers of neurons, neuronal densities and body mass, and find that in the rest of brain, but not in the cerebral cortex or cerebellum, there is a single scaling rule that applies to average neuronal cell size, which increases with the linear dimension of the body, even though there is no single scaling rule that relates the number of neurons in the rest of brain to body mass. Thus, larger bodies do not uniformly come with more neurons - but they do fairly uniformly come with larger neurons in the rest of brain, which contains a number of structures directly connected to sources or targets in the body.

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Glucuronyl 3-sulfate occurs exclusively on distal unmyelinated terminals of selected sensory neurons in the peripheral nervous system

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100141160 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 53 ◽

pp. 958-959

Author(s):

S.S. Spicer ◽

B.A. Schulte

Keyword(s):

Central Nervous System ◽

Nervous System ◽

Cerebral Cortex ◽

Peripheral Nervous System ◽

Sensory Neurons ◽

Sensory Nerves ◽

Tissue Antigens ◽

The Central Nervous System ◽

The Brain ◽

Leu 7

Generation of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against tissue antigens has yielded several (VC1.1, HNK- 1, L2, 4F4 and anti-leu 7) which recognize the unique sugar epitope, glucuronyl 3-sulfate (Glc A3- SO4). In the central nervous system, these MAbs have demonstrated Glc A3-SO4 at the surface of neurons in the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum, the retina and other widespread regions of the brain.Here we describe the distribution of Glc A3-SO4 in the peripheral nervous system as determined by immunostaining with a MAb (VC 1.1) developed against antigen in the cat visual cortex. Outside the central nervous system, immunoreactivity was observed only in peripheral terminals of selected sensory nerves conducting transduction signals for touch, hearing, balance and taste. On the glassy membrane of the sinus hair in murine nasal skin, just deep to the ringwurt, VC 1.1 delineated an intensely stained, plaque-like area (Fig. 1). This previously unrecognized structure of the nasal vibrissae presumably serves as a tactile end organ and to our knowledge is not demonstrable by means other than its selective immunopositivity with VC1.1 and its appearance as a densely fibrillar area in H&E stained sections.

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