Autoradiographic studies on the protein synthesis and the distribution of the newly synthesized proteins in oligodendroglial cells

The protein-synthesizing activity of oligodendroglial cells in the rat hippocampus as well as the migration of the newly synthesized proteins within these cells were examined by means of light and microscopic autoradiography when injecting 3H-leucine into the lateral ventricle. The autoradiographs of oligodendroglial cells were compared with the autoradiographs on hippocampal pyramidal cells of the same area. According to the quantitative evaluation of the autoradiographs the protein-synthesizing activity of the oligodendrocytes equals or may even exceed that of the pyramidal cells. In oligodendroglial cells most of the newly synthesized proteins migrate very rapidly from the rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum into the cisternae of the Golgi apparatus and disappear continuously. The proteins disappear from the Golgi apparatus simultaneously with the decrease in the radioactive concentration of the perikaryon.