Abstract
THERE have recently been several reports of the presence of nodes of Ranvier in the central nervous system1,2,3. The demonstration of discontinuities in the myelin of isolated fibres is not sufficient to show that the sheath is interrupted in the living fibres ; the myelin is so labile that breaks are frequently found in any preparation. It is characteristic of nodes of Ranvier in the peripheral nervous system that they occur rhythmically, at considerable distances along the fibre, the spacing being longer on the larger fibres4. It is possible to show that breaks in the myelin sheath, readily penetrable by methylene blue, also occur at regular intervals along fibres of the spinal cord.
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References
Feindel, W. H., Allison, A. C., and Weddell, G., J. Neural., Neurosurg. and Psychiat., 11, 227 (1948).
Hess, A., and Young, J. Z., J. Physiol., 108, 52P (1949).
Allison, A. C., and Feindel, W. H., Nature, 163, 449 (1949).
Vizoso, A. D., and Young, J. Z., J. Anat., 82, 110 (1948).
Huxley, A. F., and Stämpfli, R., J. Physiol., 108, 315 (1949).
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HESS, A., YOUNG, J. Correlation of Internodal Length and Fibre Diameter in the Central Nervous System. Nature 164, 490–491 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/164490a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/164490a0
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