Ribosomes in myelinated axons of dorsal root ganglia

Summary In the dorsal root ganglia of the rat, ribosomes were found not only in the initial segment, but they were also observed in the axoplasm of intraganglionar myelinated fibres and in the sensory portion of spinal nerves. Axons of seven-days-old rats contained more ribosomes than those of adult animals. The amount of particles decreased gradually from the initial segment trough intraganglionar internodes to the axons of spinal nerves. No ribosomes were found in axons of dorsal roots. In intraganglionar fibres, ribosomal particles were usually observed near the nodes of Ranvier, in the vicinity of Schmidt-Lantermann clefts and in axons near the Schwann cell nuclei. They were arranged in tetrads, pentads or in larger polysomes, and they were often observed adjacent to a group of mitochondria.The particles had invariably a stable size, their average diameters measuring 234 ± 2 × 197 ± 3 Å, which is practically equal to the diameters of 232 ± 2 × 203 ± 3 Å of ribosomes in the Schwann cell cytoplasm. These values fall within the range of diameters of ribosomes isolated from various cells of eukaryotic organisms as given in the literature. Since no other granular component of the cytoplasm has similarly stable dimensions, the measurements are considered to prove that the axonal particles described here are ribosomes.The author wishes to thank Dr. K. Smetana for his valuable suggestions and Mrs. M. Sobotková, Ing. M. Doubek and Mr. H. Kunz for their skillful technical assistance. The investigation was in part supported by a grant-in-aid from the Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America, Inc.