Affinity of Neurones in Regeneration

Abstract

CLASSES of neurones which are capable of forming synapses with other classes (as distinct from those which actually do so in normal growth) can be defined only by allowing the neurones to show—by their growth in abnormal conditions—what anatomical patterns of connexions they will form and what they will not. It remains to be shown that the orderly connexions that are formed in the normal process of development are but a fraction of the possible connexions that can be revealed by transplantation. As a result of numerous transplantation experiments and the analysis of the resultant synaptic patterns it may one day be possible to delineate sets and subsets of neurones by their preferences and aversions for synaptic contact with other sets and subsets which are so revealed. Where a single neurone can be individually recognized again and again in different preparations, these experimental tests lead to conclusions about the determination of character of single cells, otherwise only groups of neurones can be distinguished.