Glial cells in peripheral nerves of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana

The ultrastructural organization and the junctional complexes of peripheral nerves have been investigated in the cockroach Periplaneta americana. Nerve 5 is surrounded by a layer of connective tissue, the neural lamella, beneath which is a layer of perineurial glial cells wrapping the axons. Adjacent perineurial cells are joined to one another by septate, gap and tight junctions. Septate and gap junctions were observed in freeze-fracture replicas of main trunk nerve 5. Septate junctions were found as rows of PF particles mainly in perineurial cell membranes. Gap junctions exhibited EF macular aggregates in perineurial and subperineurial glial cells. During incubations in vivo with extracellularly applied ionic lanthanum, the lanthanum did not penetrate beyond the perineurium. Where nerve 5 branches and contacts the muscle, lanthanum penetrated freely between the muscle fibres and the nerve branches. In small peripheral branches where the axons are surrounded by single a glial layer, lanthanum is unable to penetrate to the axolemma.