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The growth of synaptic endings in the mammalian brain: A study of the calyces of the trapezoid body

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Summary

The calyx of Held is a distinctive, axosomatic ending in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body. An example of a growing synapse, its development, as visualized in rapid Golgi impregnations of age-graded littermates (cats, rats, rabbits, opossums), follows a morphological sequence: 1) The migratory, calycigenic axon ends in a sprouting growth cone with transient radiating processes; 2) On approaching the recipient neuron, the growth cone forms many thin, sinuous branches, spreading over the post-synaptic surface; 3) Replacing these are broad branches, which form the definitive calyciform synapse; 4) A network of calycine collaterals develops from collateral growth cones in a sequence similar to that of the parent calyx, but unaccompanied by sinuous branches. The sinuous branches seem to provide a developmental framework for the specific form of the calycine ending. The sprouting growth cones and radiating branches may relate to the establishment of the initial contacts by the presumptive synaptic members.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

    D. Kent Morest (With the technical aid of Mrs. R. R. Morest and of Miss P. E. Palmer)

  2. Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

    D. Kent Morest (With the technical aid of Mrs. R. R. Morest and of Miss P. E. Palmer)

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  1. D. Kent Morest
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Supported in part by U.S. Public Health Service Research Grant NB 06115 to Harvard University.

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Morest, D.K. The growth of synaptic endings in the mammalian brain: A study of the calyces of the trapezoid body. Z. Anat. Entwickl. Gesch. 127, 201–220 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00526129

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00526129

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