Probable Glial Islands in a Rat Spinal Nerve Root—A Longitudinal Study

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Abstract
A number of islands of probable glial tissue were present in two lower cervical ventral roots of a 12 day old rat. These were examined over their entire lengths of up to 520 µm along the root. The great majority of nerve fibres in the root were heavily myelinated. A small proportion of these became involved in the masses of glial tissue. Such an axon, though myelinated and appearing normal in all respects in its course proximal and distal to the island, entirely lacked a myelin sheath over the segment within the island. At most levels each island contained a number of such segments. The glial processes surrounding the latter varied enormously in shape and size over short distances and were interwoven with one another in a highly complex manner. Their cytoplasmic features strongly suggested that they were astrocytes. The appearance of the axon over the bare segment within the complex resembled that at a normal node. The glial islands described here differed from those found in cranial nerves in that they did not contain oligodendrocytes and also in that their contained axons were bare.

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