[Evolution of neuronal connecting mechanisms: electrical, mixed and chemical synapses]

Investigation of the mechanisms of junctional transmission in the isolated spinal cord in cyclostomes, amphibians, reptilia and mammals reveals the decrease in the number of electrical synapses during evolution from primitive to more advanced vertebrates. Electrical transmission is lacking in reptilian and mammalian cord. On the basis of these data, the analysis of the unitary EPSPs evoked in motoneurons of the lamprey and frog by intracellular stimulation of reticulospinal axons and primary afferent fibers and dendrodendritic interaction between motoneurons, a hypothesis is advanced that neurons of similar type may communicate through pure electrical junctions, whereas successive synaptic articulations between different functional groups of neurons are formed by mixed or chemical synapses. The cellular mechanisms controlling interneuronal communications are discussed.