A Bi-Ni-Co vein in the contact zone of a granite near Pozoblanco, Córdoba, Spain, shows a zoned structure with mm-thin quartz wall zones, up to 20 cm thick Bi-rich quartz zones, and a few cm thick quartz-bismuth transition zones grading into a central quartz vug zone. The Bi-rich zones show textures indicating a metacolloidal origin from a silica gel enriched in adsorbed Bi: (1) globular and chain aggregates of fine-granular allotriomorphic quartz represent morphological relics of a globulated silica gel; (2) quartz rosettes, chain rosettes and stringer-combs radiating from the quartz globules and chains represent crystallised silica gel matrix; (3) crack fillings of quartz, gersdorffite and platy bismuth dendrites represent precipitates of metal-saturated dilute hydrosols filling shrinkage cracks in the desiccating and crystallising gel; (4) quartz spherocrystals in rosettes and combs are clouded with colloidal particles inherited from the silica gel; (5) unsupported wall rock inclusions represent inclusions in a viscous silica gel precursor covering fissure walls. The thin wall zones are quartz fillings of cracks between shrinking gel and walls. The transition and vug zones are recrystallised colloidal silica crusts precipitated by fissure-filling rest-solutions. Tree-like bismuth-gersdorffite dendrites in the transition zones are precipitates of metal-rich solutions infiltrating from the Bi-rich zones into the recrystallising silica crusts. The pre-concentration of metals in silica gels explains the dendrite formation without assuming abnormally high metal concentrations in transporting solutions or long range diffusion processes.

A new finite element level set method is developed to simulate the interface motion. The normal velocity of the moving interface can depend on both the local geometry, such as the curvature, and the external force such as that due to the flux from both sides of the interface of a material whose concentration is governed by a diffusion equation. The key idea of the method is to use an interface-fitted finite element mesh. Such an approximation of the interface allows an accurate calculation of the solution to the diffusion equation. The interface-fitted mesh is constructed from a base mesh, a uniform finite element mesh, at each time step to explicitly locate the interface and separate regions defined by the interface. Several new level set techniques are developed in the framework of finite element methods. These include a simple finite element method for approximating the curvature, a new method for the extension of normal velocity, and a finite element least-squares method for the reinitialization of level set functions. Application of the method to the classical solidification problem captures the dendrites. The method is also applied to the molecular solvation to determine optimal solute-solvent interfaces of solvation systems.

Immunocytochemical staining for microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP 2) was used to examine the morphology of neurons, the organization of neuronal groups, and the neurochemical plasticity of cells in adult monkey area 17. MAP 2-immunostained neurons are present through the depth of area 17 but are most intensely immunoreactive in layers IVB and VI. From layer IVB, separate groups of MAP 2-positive cells invade layers 1VA and IVCα. Clusters of cells protrude upward from superficial layer IVB and occupy the central core regions of the cytochrome oxidase (CO)-stained honeycomb in layer IVA, while large neurons typical of layer IVB are distributed in irregular clusters in the subjacent layer IVCa. The somata in the layer IVA honeycomb cores give off immunostained dendrites which remain largely within the core regions. Patches of MAP 2-positive neurons are also present in layers II and III, where they coincide with the CO-stained puffs.

Intravitreal injections of tetrodotoxin (TTX) into one eye of adult monkeys produce stripes of alternating light and dark MAP 2 immunostaining in layer IVC. Stripes of light immunostaining coincide with stripes of light CO staining, and correspond to reduced MAP 2 immunoreactivity within cortical neurons dominated by the TTX-injected eye. In layers II and III, the MAP 2 immunostaining of patches overlying the injected-eye columns is similarly reduced. No change occurs in the MAP 2 immunostaining of layer IVA.

These data suggest that the anatomical and physiological heterogeneity of layers IVA and IVCα arises from the periodic invasion of neurons characteristic of layer IVB, that the neurons in layer IVA have dendrites confined to thalamocortical-recipient or nonrecipient zones and that the expression of MAP 2 changes in adult cortical neurons following the loss of retinal input.

Dendrites of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) tend to be distributed preferentially toward areas of reduced RGC density. This, however, does not occur in the retina of normal pigmented rats, in which it has been suggested that the centro-peripheral gradient of RGC density is too shallow to provide directional guidance to growing dendrites. In this study, laterally displaced dendrites of RGCs retrogradely labeled with horseradish peroxidase were related to cell density gradients induced experimentally in the rat retina. Neonatal unilateral lesions of the optic tract produced retrograde degeneration of contralaterally projecting RGCs, but spared ipsilaterally projecting neurons in the same retina. These lesions created an anomalous temporal to nasal gradient of cell density across the decussation line, opposite to the nasal to temporal gradient found along the same axis in either normal rats or rats that had the contralateral eye removed at birth. RGCs in rats that received optic tract lesions had their dendrites displaced laterally toward the depleted nasal retina, while in either normal or enucleated rats there was no naso-temporal asymmetry. The lateral displacement affected both primary dendrites and higher-order branches. However, the gradient of cell density after optic tract lesions was less steep than the gradient in either normal or enucleated rats. To test for the presence of steeper gradients at early stages of development, RGC density gradients were also examined at postnatal day 5 (P5). In normal rats, the RGCs were homogeneously distributed throughout the retina, while rats given optic tract lesions at birth already showed a temporo-nasal density gradient at P5. Still, this anomalous gradient was less steep than that found in normal adults. It is concluded that the time course, rather than the steepness of the RGC density gradient, is the major determinant of the lateral displacement of dendritic arbors with respect to the soma in developing RGCs. The data are consistent with the idea that the overall shape of dendritic arbors depends in part on dendritic competition during retinal development.

We evaluated the contributions of somatic and dendritic impulses to the receptive field dimensions of amacrine cells in the amphibian retina. For this analysis, we used the NEURON simulation program with a multicompartmental, multichannel model of an On-Off amacrine cell with a three-dimensional structure obtained through computer tracing techniques. Simulated synaptic inputs were evenly spaced along the dendritic branches and organized into eight annuli of increasing radius. The first set of simulations activated each ring progressively to simulate an area summation experiment, while a second approach activated each annulus individually. Both sets of simulations were done with and without the presence of Na channels in the dendrites and soma. Unexpectedly, the receptive field dimensions observed in the area summation simulations was often smaller than that predicted from the summation of the annular simulations. Collisions of action potentials moving in opposite directions in the dendrites largely accounted for this contraction in receptive field size for the area summation studies. The presence of dendritic Na channels increased the size of the receptive field beyond that achieved in their absence and allowed the physiological size of the receptive field to approximate the physical dimensions of the dendritic tree. This receptive field augmentation was the result of impulse generating ability in the dendrites which enhanced the signal observed at the soma. These simulations provide a plausible mechanistic explanation for physiological recordings from amacrine cells that show similar phenomena.

We examined the functional properties of a low-voltage-activated (LVA) calcium current in ganglion cells of the neotenous tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) retina. Our analysis was based on whole-cell recordings from acutely dissociated ganglion cell bodies identified by retrograde dye injections. Using a continuously perfused cell preparation, the LVA current was isolated with the use of potassium channel blocking agents added to the bathing medium and the pipette solution, while tetrodotoxin was added to the bathing medium to block Na+ channels. Approximately 70% of ganglion cells had an easily identified LVA current. The LVA current activated at membrane potentials more positive than −90 mV, and inactivated rapidly. It was relatively insensitive to nickel (IC50 > 500 μM) and amiloride (IC50 > 750 μM). Voltage- and current-clamp studies allowed us to generate a model of this current using the NEURON simulation program. Studies were also carried out to measure the LVA Ca2+ current in ganglion cells with dendrites to confirm that it had a significant dendritic representation. Physiological mechanisms that may depend on LVA Ca2+ currents are discussed with an emphasis on the role that dendrites play in ganglion cell function.

A growing body of experimental evidence suggests that anaesthetics, by influencing GABAergic and glutaminergic neural signalling, can have adverse effects on the developing central nervous system. The biological foundation for this is that gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamate could act non-synaptically, in addition to their role in neurotransmission in the adult brain, in the regulation of neuronal development in the central nervous system. These neurotransmitters and their receptors are expressed from very early stages of central nervous system development and appear to influence neural progenitor proliferation, cell migration and neuronal differentiation. During the synaptogenetic period, pharmacological blockade of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptors as well as stimulation of GABAA receptors has been reported to be associated with increased apoptosis in the developing brain. Importantly, recent data suggest that even low, non-apoptogenic concentrations of anaesthetics can perturb neuronal dendritic development and thus could potentially lead to impairment of developing neuronal networks. The extrapolation of these experimental observations to clinical practice is of course very difficult and requires extreme caution as differences in drug concentrations and exposure times as well as interspecies variations are all important confounding variables. While clinicians should clearly not withhold anaesthesia based on current animal studies, these observations should urge more laboratory and clinical research to further elucidate this issue.

When liquids solidify, the interface between a crystal and its melt often forms branching structures (dendrites), just as frost spreads across a window. The development of a quantitative understanding of dendritic evolution continues to present a major theoretical and experimental challenge within the metallurgical community. This article looks at key parameters that describe the interface—excess free energy and mobility—and discusses how these important properties relate to our understanding of crystal growth and other interfacial phenomena such as wetting and spreading of droplets and nucleation of the solid phase from the melt. In particular, two new simulation methods have emerged for computing the interfacial free energy and its anisotropy:the cleaving technique and the capillary fluctuation method. These are presented, along with methods for extracting the kinetic coefficient and a comparison of the results to several theories of crystal growth rates.

Broad amplitude variability and skewed distributions are characteristic features of quantal synaptic currents (minis) at central synapses. The relative contributions of the various underlying sources are still debated. Through computational models of thalamocortical neurons, we separated intra- from extra-synaptic sources. Our simulations indicate that the external factors of local input resistance and dendritic filtering generate equally small amounts of negatively skewed synaptic variability. The ability of these two factors to reduce positive skew increased as their contribution to variability increased, which in control trials for morphological, biophysical, and experimental parameters never exceeded 10% of the range. With these dendritic factors ruled out, we tested multiple release models, which led to distributions with clearly non-physiological multiple peaks. We conclude that intra-synaptic organization is the primary determinant of synaptic variability in thalamocortical neurons and, due to extra-synaptic mechanisms, is more potent than the data suggested. Thalamortical neurons, especially in rodents, constitute a remarkably favorable system for molecular genetic studies of synaptic variability and its functional consequence.

Although single-channel and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings have demonstrated the presence of Na+ currents in retinal ganglion cell somata, it has not previously been reported that an anti-Na+-channel antiserum stains both retinal ganglion cell somata and proteins with molecular weights corresponding to complexes of α and β subunits. We probed adult goldfish retinas for Na+ channel-like immunoreactivity with a polyclonal antibody directed against the EOIII segment of vertebrate voltage-gated Na+ channels. In vertical sections and whole mounts, this antibody consistently stained the somata, axons, and proximal dendrites of retinal ganglion cells. Some somata in the proximal third of the inner nuclear layer were also stained. In Western blots, this antibody specifically stained multiple protein bands from retina and optic nerve, all with apparent molecular weights between 200 and 315 kDa. The largest of these molecular weights agrees with that reported previously for complexes of α and β subunits in mammalian neurons, including retinal ganglion cells. The intermediate and lowest molecular weights are consistent with the presence of multiple Na+ channel α subunits, either in individual proximal retinal neurons or in different morphological subtypes.

This review is concerned with the development of the rat corticospinal tract (CST). The CST is a long descending central pathway, restricted to mammals, which is involved both in motor and sensory control. The rat CST is a very useful model in experimental research on the development of fibre systems in mammals because of its postnatal outgrowth throughout the spinal cord as well as its experimental accessibility. Hence mechanisms underlying axon outgrowth and subsequent target cell finding can be studied relatively easily. In this respect the corticospinal tract forms an important example and model system for the better understanding of central nervous system development in general.