[Experimental modeling and the discussion on the syncytial connections in the nervous system]

To solve the problem of the possibility of syncytial connection in the nervous system, this paper for the first time presents the evidence of experimental syncytial fusion of neurons. Neurons, isolated from the ganglia of the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis and freed from the surrounding glia by pronase treatment, were drawn together by centrifugation and were kept in the culture medium for two days in the aggregated state. The neurons preserved the ability to generate normal processes. At the borders of adjacent cells, contacting mutual protrusions (feet) were formed that were separated from each other by vacuole-like enlargements of the intercellular clefts. Using the electron microscope, it was shown that at the borders of contacting feet the external cell membranes were destroyed. Only residual fragments of the destroyed membranes were detected. The cytoplasm of one adjacent cell was continuous with the cytoplasm of the other. Thus, the experiments confirm once more the correctness of the cell theory concerning the common main properties of all the cells and expand the concepts of the neuronal theory by the statement that in the nervous system, along with chemical synapses and electrical membrane contacts, the syncytial interneuronal connections are also possible.