Effects of axotomy on synaptic transmission and structure in frog sympathetic ganglia

Axotomy was carried out on frog sympathetic neurons of the two last lumbar chain ganglia. At different times thereafter, synaptic transmission was analysed electrophysiologically by intracellular microelectrodes and compared with synaptic density, measured by electron microscopy in the same ganglia. For this purpose, modifications in synaptic transmission were estimated first, by the numbers of B and C sympathetic neurons exhibiting subthreshold excitatory postsynaptic potentials in response to 10 Hz orthodromic stimulation of preganglionic fibres, and second, by the amplitude and number of excitatory postsynaptic potentials occurring over 5-10 s periods of 10 Hz stimulation. By distinguishing two types of morphological relationships between the pre- and postsynaptic elements, two contact indices were defined: a synaptic index (ratio of the number of synapses encountered to the number of perikarya explored) and a simple contact index corresponding to the same type of contacts, but without any membrane differentiation. Both the electrophysiological and morphological results showed that the first effects were detectable 4 days after axotomy, and that the main alterations in synaptic transmission and density occurred at 2 weeks. In addition, while in normal ganglia the excitatory postsynaptic potentials of B and C neurons reached the threshold for action potential generation in response to 10 Hz stimulation, about 29% of the axotomized neurons had subthreshold excitatory postsynaptic potentials 1 week after section. At 2 weeks, this proportion reached 65%, and the synaptic and simple contact indices, at 90% and 60% respectively, were significantly lower than the control ganglion indices. At longer times after axotomy, there was a discrepancy between the morphological and electrophysiological results: at 1 month, the synaptic index seemed to rise as the decline in the efficacy of synaptic transmission became more marked. The amplitude of the subthreshold excitatory postsynaptic potentials recorded in B neurons was 5.5 +/- 2.8 mV (mean +/- SD, n = 18); this value was significantly lower by about 50% than that measured 1 week after axotomy. In addition, the number of excitatory postsynaptic potentials in B neurons reached an average maximum of 83 +/- 29 for 100 stimuli applied at 10 Hz. Similar results were obtained for C neurons. Two months after axotomy, the physiological and morphological parameters of synaptic efficacy began to recover and return to normal values, but had not reached them by 4 months. These observations show that some synaptic transmission remains possible, even with a much reduced number of synaptic complexes. It is suggested that after axotomy, simple contacts also might be involved in synaptic transmission.