[Study of the effects of amyotrophic leukospongiosis causative agent on neuroglia cells in vitro]. / Izuchenie vliianiia vozbuditelia amiotroficheskogo leikospongioza na neiroglial'nye kletki in vitro.

The influence of amyotrophic leukospongiosis (AL) causative agent on the ultrastructure of different types of cells of dissociated rat embryo brain and spinal cord cultures was studied. The AL agent belongs to the unconventional viruses (prions) and causes degenerative changes in the CNS. Large neurons and fibrous astrocytes were shown to be most sensitive. It was noted that the time of development and the degree of the dystrophic changes depend on the agent concentration. The destruction of cell membranes resulted in the pair neuron confluence. The formation of giant mitochondria with intramitochondrial inclusions was detected. It is supposed that the energetic apparatus of sensitive cells is primarily damaged by the infectious agent.

[Interneuronal relations in a dissociated sympathetic ganglion culture]. / Issledovanie mezhneironnykh vzaimootnoshenii v kul'ture dissotsiirovannogo simpaticheskogo gangliia.

Structural and functional relations between sympathetic neurons in the long-term culture of a dissociated autonomic ganglion were studied with light and electron microscopic (scanning microscopy) and electrophysiological microelectrode techniques. Different patterns of functional interneuronal relations depending on the ultrastructural organization and features of unification of the cells in networks, are discussed.

[Organization of sympathetic neuronal plexuses in culture according to the results of scanning electron microscopy]. / Organizatsiia spletenii simpaticheskikh neironov v kul'ture po dannym skaniruiushchei élektronnoi mikroskopii.

Nervous cells obtained by dissociation of the rat cranial cervical ganglion cultivated in vitro, are demonstrated to form a network in which spontaneous and provoked electric activity is registered. The structural base for transmission the electrical activity in the plexus are complex divergent-convergent complexes, formed by elementary morphofunctional units: contacts of varicose terminals with each other, with cell bodies and terminal boutons, contacts of the boutons with each other and with the cell bodies, etc. The phenomena are revealed by means of raster electron microscopy.

[Development of neurons in dissociated culture of the cranial cervical ganglion]. / Razvitie neironov v dissotsiirovannoi kul'ture kranial'nogo sheinogo gangliia.

Development of the sympathetic neurons of the dissociated cranial cervical ganglia taken from newborn rats has been studied in tissue culture. Vital microscopical, histological, histochemical and electrophysiological methods have been used, as well as an automatic morpho- and cytospectrometrical computer analysis. Active processes of the neurocyte regeneration and development begin on the 3d-4th day of cultivation. Average areas of the cellular body optic cross section increase more than two times, and an average size of nuclei-1.8 times. Some processes appear. An active synthesis of catecholamines takes place, its location coinciding with the forming chromatophilic substance zones. The end of the first and the beginning of the second week of cultivation is characterized with an active growth of processes, with formation of a complex neuropil, with differentiation of the neurite terminal parts. Catecholamines are displaced towards the processes. A spike activity to the intracellular electric stimulation appears. The first intraneuronal contacts are established. At the end of the second and during the third week the cells reach their maximal size. The ratio of the cytoplasm cross section area to the nuclear cross section reaches its constant level. The catecholamines concentration in the neuronal soma corresponds to its maximal values. Chromatophilic substance and the neurofibrillar apparatus are formed. On the neuronal soma pericellulars are formed. There are not any essential changes after the third week of incubation.