[Effect of long-term protein-calorie deficiency on the ultrastructure of cerebral cortex neurons]

Electron microscopy was used to study the effect of durative protein-caloric insufficiency on the ultrastructure of neurons in the V brain layer of 40-day mice. The perikaryon of most nervous cells showed insignificant elements of destruction, focal rarification of ribosomes, deaggregation of Nissl's substance, expansion of the cysterns in the cytoplasmic network, changes in mitochondria, etc. In the cytoplasm of separate neurons, the destructive processes were more pronounced and involved almost the whole cytoplasm. They were also found in most dendrites of large and medium size of the V cortical layer. At the same time most neurons demonstrated marked signs of the compensatory-adaptive processes (an increase in the amount of folds in the nuclear membrane, an increase in the quantity of lisosomes, an enhanced activity of the axo-dendric part of the synapses, etc.).