Fine structure of the small, granule-containing cells in the superior cervical ganglia of hydrocortisone-treated early postnatal and adult rats.

Hydrocortisone injections into rats on postnatal days 3-9 caused an increase in the number of small granule-containing cells in the superior cervical ganglia. These cells, corresponding to the small, intensely fluorescent cells, showed an extensive rough endoplasmic reticulum, a large Golgi apparatus and a very large number of granular vesicles. In addition to the granular vesicles, 70-160 nm in diameter, in which the dense core filled most of the vesicle, most cells of the hydrocortisone-injected rats contained also larger granular vesicles, up to 350 nm in diameter, in which the dense core was eccentrically located. A minority of the cells contained only granular vesicles 70-100 nm in diameter, which was the only type seen in the saline-treated control rats. Thirty days after discontinuation of the hydrocortisone treatment, most of the cells with large granular vesicles had disappeared, and only two profiles of such cells were seen on day 40. The other small cells contained only granular vesicles 70-160 nm in diameter, and these cells could not be distinguished from the small granule-containing cells of 40-day-old control rats treated early postnatally with saline. Hydrocortisone treatment, first on days 3-9 and subsequently on days 40-46, caused reappearance of the small granule-containing cells with large granular vesicles up to 350 nm in diameter, the dense core of which was eccentrically located. Hydrocortisone treatment on days 40-46 only was not followed by appearance of such cells in rats treated with saline on days 3-9.