Volume densities and specific surfaces of neuronal and glial tissue elements in the rat supraoptic nucleus

The present study was undertaken to provide an explanation for previous autoradiographic results suggesting a several times higher rate of synthesis of glycoconjugates per unit volume of hypothalamic glia than of neurons. Volume densities, specific surfaces (surface-volume ratios), and relative surfaces (contribution of the surface of a tissue element to the total surface of the tissue) were assessed. Neuronal elements occupy about 74% and glial elements about 8% of the total volume. The specific surface, i.e., the amount of plasma membrane per unit volume of structure, is more than 30 times higher in the neuropil than in the neuronal perikaryal fraction. The largest specific surface is found with (unmyelinated) axons and astroglial processes. The specific surface of the average astrocyte is about twice that of the average neuron. If the surface of the entire cell is considered in relation to the perikaryal volume only, this ratio is about seven times as large for glial cells as for neurons. It follows that an astrocyte perikaryon has to renew a several times larger plasma membrane than a neuron, which can account for the above differences in perikaryal synthesis rates of glycoconjugates.