Procion yellow staining of motoneurones in the frog

Intracellular recording and subsequent staining of spinal motoneurones in the frog was made by procion-filled micropipettes. Spike discharges in response to dorsal root (DR) and ventral root (VR) volleys as well as to direct current injections were studied. Reconstruction of the dendritic tree of the cell stained after recording was made from photomicrographs taken from frozen serial sections of the spinal cord. Migration of the dye into a neighbouring unimpaled cell was observed. The advantages of the procion injection technique in studying the frog's spinal cord physiology are discussed.