Abstract
INVESTIGATION of the distribution of oxidative enzyme activity in the optic nerve of the cat1,2 has revealed that oligodendrocytes, which are restricted to the post-laminar part of the optic nerve3,4, are characterized by reactivity for the enzymes of the citric acid cycle, succinic and malic dehydrogenases. Astrocytes, which are found throughout the optic nerve3,4, show much less reactivity for these enzymes. Succinic and malic dehydrogenases are also strongly active in the fibre bundles of the optic nerve within and anterior to the lamina cribrosa: within the lamina the bundles are composed of finely myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibres, but in the prelaminar part of the optic nerve the fibres are almost all unmyelinated. In contrast, the post-laminar fibre bundles show negligible activity of these enzymes and are composed of myelinated nerve fibres. Nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and NADP tetrazolium reductases have a mixed pattern of activity: they show up in oligodendrocytes, in astrocytes, and in the laminar and prelaminar nerve fibre bundles.
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References
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BLUNT, M., WENDELL-SMITH, C. & PAISLEY, P. Phosphogluconate Oxidative Pathway in Glial Metabolism. Nature 215, 523–524 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/215523a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/215523a0
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