Glyoxylic acid fluorescence and ultrastructural studies of neurones in the coeliac-superior mesenteric ganglion of the aged rat.

Sympathetic post-ganglionic neurones in the coeliac-superior mesenteric ganglion (CSMG) complex of aged (24 month) rats have been studied by glyoxylic acid-induced fluorescence and electron miscroscopy. Comparisons have been made with the CSMG of young adult (4 month) rats. In the aged rats the noradrenaline fluorescence of the majority of neuronal perikarya was very low or absent and few intraganglionic fluorescent varicosities were seen. Lipofuscin pigment was very prominent at the nuclear pole region of neurones and also in dendrites and axonal processes. Ultrastructural studies revealed large accumulations of residual bodies at the nuclear poles and in axons and dendritic profiles. Within the perikarya many mitochondria were distorted or swollen, the rough endoplasmic reticulum was disarranged and much dilated as were Golgi cisternae. Primary lysosomes were encountered throughout the neurone perikaryon and its axonal or dendritic processes. In contrast to the young adult CSMG, no evidence for loading of transmitter storage vesicles with an identical dose level of 5-hydroxydopamine was detected in any part of the neurones of aged rats. This might reflect an impairment of the uptake mechanisms and/or storage of noradrenaline in aged sympathetic neurones and their axonal and dendritic processes.