[Ultrastructure of paired neuron contacts during the posthypoxic period]

Peculiar contacts between bodies of double neurons were revealed in the sensomotor cortex of the rat brain under ischemia and histotoxic hypoxia by means of the electron microscopic investigation. Ultrastructure of the contacting double neurons is not homogenous. In some cases, they do not differ from the normal, in other cases, certain signs of activation are revealed. In the contact area, peripheral focal chromatolysis is sometimes observed. In the double neurons the number of microtubules is often increased. In some cases, the cytoplasmic structure is altered (demonstrating certain activation in one of the cells) and combined with destructive processes in the neighbouring cell. The double neurons revealed can be divided into 3 groups: 1) pairs of morphologically identical neurons without specialized areas in the bordering membranes, 2) double neurons with specialized areas of membranes at places of their contacts, 3) double neurons with fusion of their cytoplasm at places where the cellular bodies come into contact with each other. The types of the double neurons described reveal some additional ways along which metabolism in neurons can occur.