Ultrastructural and biochemical studies of the swelling of developing chick telencephalic slices.

An ultrastructural and biochemical study of the importance and localization of tissue swelling was performed on telencephalic slices of 1- and 30-day-old chicks incubated in an oxygenated or a non-oxygenated physiological medium. The swelling of slices is greater for 30-day-old chick material than for that from 1-day-old chicks. It also reaches higher values in the non-oxygenated than in the oxygenated medium. When the 30-day-old chick telencephalic slices are incubated in an oxygenated medium, swelling mainly affects astrocytes, and especially the astrocytic endfeet. When they are incubated in a non-oxygenated medium, the astrocytes and astrocytic endfeet are very swollen and in addition the swelling also affects the neurons and their organelles. Extracellular space is increased. When 1-day-old chick telencephalic slices are incubated in a non-oxygenated medium, the tissue structures are well preserved. Swelling predominantly affects astrocytes and astrocytic endfeet. Neurons are not affected and the extracellular space is reduced. However, when they are incubated in an oxygenated medium, tissue structures are greatly affected showing a high degree of disorganization. Extracellular space is greatly increased. This study thus indicates that the best incubation conditions are an oxygenated medium for 30-day-old chick telencephalic slices which are characterized by an aerobic metabolism, and a non-oxygenated medium for 1-day-old chick telencephalic slices which have a predominantly anaerobic metabolism.