Synaptic fine structure and the termination of corticospinal fibers in the lateral basal region of the cat spinal cord.

The lateral basal region (LBR) of the spinal cord gray matter (Rexed's laminae IV-VII) by physiologic and anatomic criteria is the major terminal zone for the corticospinal (CS) tract in the cat. The neurons in this area are medium-sized with abundant spines on their dendrites. Axon terminals on the dendrites and somata of these neurons form synapses easily classified as asymmetric with spheroid vesicles and symmetric with flattened vesicles. There are rare exceptions to this. In a systematic count of terminals, 82% have spheroid and 18% flattened vesicles. The majority of all terminals are on dendrites (84.9%) and a minority on somata (14.1%). Less than 1% are axoaxonic. Degeneration of the corticospinal tract was produced by transecting one hemisphere of our experimental cats. Its termination in the lower cervical cord was studied for 17 hours to 7 days after surgery. Vesicle depletion and clumping and dense polymembranous inclusions were the most common forms of degeneration. Filamentous proliferation in the terminals was also prominent; dark degeneration, however, was infrequent. The percent of degenerating CS terminals in the LBR was the following: 17 hours - 2.2%, 36 hours - 4.19%, 2 days - 10.3%, 3 days - 8.4%, 4 days - 6.9%, 7 days - 10.25%; 84.8% of degenerating CS terminals were axodendritic and 15.2% axosomatic.