title: Clusters of nerve cell bodies enclosed within a common connective tissue envelope in the spinal ganglia of the lizard and rat.
abstract: A careful search for groups of nerve cell bodies enclosed within a common connective envelope was made in the spinal ganglia of the lizard and rat using a serial-section technique. Nerve cell bodies sharing a common connective envelope were found to be more common in the lizard (9.4%) than in the rat (5.6%). These nerve cell bodies were arranged in pairs, or, less frequently, in groups of three. At times, they appeared to be in immediate contact, with no intervening satellite cells; at others, they remained separated from one another by a satellite cell sheet. The clusters of nerve cell bodies enclosed within a common connective envelope probably result from the arrest of developmental processes in the spinal ganglion. It is possible that, as a result of the cell arrangement here described, certain neurons electrically influence other sensory neurons at the level of the ganglion.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Histology, Embryology and Neurocytology, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pannese
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ledda
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arcidiacono
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rigamonti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008116:Lizards; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009474:Neurons / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013045:Species Specificity