Structural and quantitative characteristics of the dendrites of neurons in the posterior zone of the amygdaloid body in the rat brain.

The aim of the present work was to study the structure of the dendritic tree of the main groups of neurons in the posterior zone of the amygdaloid body and to analyze their quantitative characteristics. Frontal sections of rat brain impregnated with Golgi silver nitrate were used to study the characteristics of neuronal organization. Classification of neurons was based on criteria developed by Leontovich (1978) and Polyakov (1973). The main groups of neurons were long-axon, rarely branched cells, long-axon, densely branched subcortical cells, and long-axon, densely branched cortical cells. Quantitative studies of seven measures of the dendrite tree showed that the most informative parameters for differences between the main groups of neurons were the number of branching points and the number of free dendrite tips. The contents of rarely and densely branched neuron systems in the nuclei, paleocortex, and intermediate formations are described.