Electron microscope observations on the changing relationships between unmyelinated axons and Schwann cells in human fetal nerves. 1978

H J Gamble, and J Fenton, and G Allsopp

The superior rectus oculi muscle from human fetuses of 5, 9.2, 12 and 24 cm crown-rump length (equivalent to 10, 12, 15 and 23 weeks respectively) and a finger from a 9.5 cm crown-rump length (12 weeks) human fetus were examined by electron microscopy. Very simple relationships between Schwann cells and large bundles of axons were found in the superior rectus muscle of the 5 cm fetus and in the large nerve bundles of the fetal finger. Absence of collagen fibrils in the vicinity of these nerve bundles was also noted. In the superior rectus muscles of the older fetuses the complexity of the Schwann cell/axon relationship increased dramatically, the effect being to envelop single axons in Schwann cell processes. This was also the case in the smaller elaborate bundles in the fetal finger which lay adjacent to move primitive, simply invested nerve bundles. In the examination of near serial sections of Schwann cell/axon bundles it was found that the Schwann cell processes, originally likened to a curtain hanging in fluted folds and slightly twisted, was also badly torn and tattered into longitudinal strips of uneven length. In near serial sections, dramatic changes have been found in the arrangements of Schwann cells and axons. Axons may be singled out and separately invested by the Schwann cell processes, but only for short distances. Lateral transfer of axons from one nerve bundle to another may occur, and loss of axons is apparently not uncommon. The same axon may be of very different diameters at different points along its length.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008854 Microscopy, Electron Microscopy using an electron beam, instead of light, to visualize the sample, thereby allowing much greater magnification. The interactions of ELECTRONS with specimens are used to provide information about the fine structure of that specimen. In TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY the reactions of the electrons that are transmitted through the specimen are imaged. In SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY an electron beam falls at a non-normal angle on the specimen and the image is derived from the reactions occurring above the plane of the specimen. Electron Microscopy
D009801 Oculomotor Muscles The muscles that move the eye. Included in this group are the medial rectus, lateral rectus, superior rectus, inferior rectus, inferior oblique, superior oblique, musculus orbitalis, and levator palpebrae superioris. Extraocular Muscles,Extraocular Rectus Muscles,Inferior Oblique Extraocular Muscle,Inferior Oblique Muscles,Levator Palpebrae Superioris,Musculus Orbitalis,Oblique Extraocular Muscles,Oblique Muscle, Inferior,Oblique Muscle, Superior,Oblique Muscles, Extraocular,Rectus Muscles, Extraocular,Superior Oblique Extraocular Muscle,Superior Oblique Muscle,Extraocular Muscle,Extraocular Muscle, Oblique,Extraocular Muscles, Oblique,Extraocular Oblique Muscle,Extraocular Oblique Muscles,Extraocular Rectus Muscle,Inferior Oblique Muscle,Muscle, Oculomotor,Muscles, Oculomotor,Oblique Extraocular Muscle,Oblique Muscle, Extraocular,Oblique Muscles, Inferior,Oblique Muscles, Superior,Oculomotor Muscle,Rectus Muscle, Extraocular,Superior Oblique Muscles
D005865 Gestational Age The age of the conceptus, beginning from the time of FERTILIZATION. In clinical obstetrics, the gestational age is often estimated from the onset of the last MENSTRUATION which is about 2 weeks before OVULATION and fertilization. It is also estimated to begin from fertilization, estrus, coitus, or artificial insemination. Embryologic Age,Fetal Maturity, Chronologic,Chronologic Fetal Maturity,Fetal Age,Maturity, Chronologic Fetal,Age, Embryologic,Age, Fetal,Age, Gestational,Ages, Embryologic,Ages, Fetal,Ages, Gestational,Embryologic Ages,Fetal Ages,Gestational Ages
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001369 Axons Nerve fibers that are capable of rapidly conducting impulses away from the neuron cell body. Axon
D012583 Schwann Cells Neuroglial cells of the peripheral nervous system which form the insulating myelin sheaths of peripheral axons. Schwann Cell,Cell, Schwann,Cells, Schwann

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