Rutledge L T
J Comp Neurol. 1978 Mar 1;178(1):117-28. doi: 10.1002/cne.901780107.
Quantitative studies of synaptic ultrastructure were made in the upper layers of cat cerebral cortex. Tissues were from intact cortex and from long-term (chronic) undercut cortex with or without electrical stimulation. The synaptic effects of chronic electrical stimulation of denervated cortex are most readily understood as growth and remodeling of synaptic elements. Associated with chronic stimulation were increases in: symmetric membrane contacts; areas of round and flat vesicle containing terminals; dendritic shaft contacts; and synaptic contact lengths. Even without stimulation there were indications of synaptic plasticity in denervated cortex; compared with intact cortex, synapses having symmetric membrane contacts showed an increase in bouton area and an increase in synaptic contacts on dendritic shafts. These data are consistent with the observations of others in which axonal terminal growth occurred after differentation. But it appears that chronic electrical stimulation in the adult nervous system promotes significantly more plasticity than occurs without stimulation. In a functional sense stimulation in the present experiments produced effective inhibition which did not occur with denervation alone. Thus the plasticity observed with stimulation had both structural and functional components.
对猫大脑皮质上层的突触超微结构进行了定量研究。组织取自完整皮质以及长期（慢性）切断皮质，有无电刺激。失神经皮质慢性电刺激的突触效应最容易理解为突触元件的生长和重塑。与慢性刺激相关的增加包括：对称膜接触；含有圆形和平扁囊泡的终末区域；树突干接触；以及突触接触长度。即使没有刺激，失神经皮质中也有突触可塑性的迹象；与完整皮质相比，具有对称膜接触的突触在终扣面积和树突干上的突触接触方面有所增加。这些数据与其他人的观察结果一致，即在分化后轴突终末会生长。但似乎成年神经系统中的慢性电刺激比无刺激时显著促进更多的可塑性。从功能意义上讲，本实验中的刺激产生了单独去神经时未出现的有效抑制。因此，刺激时观察到的可塑性具有结构和功能成分。
