Computerized morphometric analysis of the dendrites of Dogiel type II neurons

Silver nitrate impregnation by the Bil'shovskii-Gros method was used to study the dendrites of Dogiel type II cells in the cat large intestine (local receptors) by computerized morphometric analysis. The following parameters were measured: the areas of the receptive field of the dendrite, the total area of all receptor elements, the total length of all branches of the receptor. There was significant individual variation in all these measures: the ratios of maximum to minimum values were 41, 29, and 45 respectively. There were no correlations between these three measures. It is suggested that this morphological heterogeneity of dendrites may underlie functional differences in Dogiel type II cells.