[Cytochemical study of proteins and RNA in individual spinal cord motor neurons and intervertebral ganglion neurons of rats following space flight].

By the methods of quantitative cytochemistry the content of RNA cytoplasmatic protein was measured in motoneurons of anterior horns of the spinal cord and neurons of spinal ganglia of rats after their 22-day space flight. The exposure did not alter the content of RNA in motoneurons of the anterior horns of the spinal cord and reduced the value in large neurons of spinal ganglia. The flight diminished significantly the protein content in the cytoplasm of motoneurons and neurons of spinal ganglia as compared with the preflight level. On the 27th postflight day the RNA content in motoneurons of the anterior horns of the spinal cord increased and that in neurons of spinal ganglia did not differ from the preflight level. On the 27th postflight day the protein content in the cytoplasm of motoneurons returned to the preflight level and remained decreased in the cytoplasms of large neurons of spinal ganglia.