Ultrastructure of marginal zone during prenatal development of human spinal cord

Abstract

Electron microscopic studies were conducted in the marginal zone (lamina I) in human fetuses ranging from 8-25 weeks of gestational age. At 8 weeks the neurons have indented nuclei and sparse organelles in the cytoplasm. The neuropil shows contacts between the axons and dendritic profiles. Some of them are well defined synapses with post synaptic thickening and agranular spherical vesicles in the presynaptic terminal. At 18 weeks compactly packed organelles with long cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum could be visualized in the neuronal cytoplasm. At 25 weeks the neurons have heterochromatin patches in the nuclei. Axosomatic, dendrodendritic, axoaxonic, symmetrical, asymmetrical and multisynaptic contacts with agranular and dense core vesicles are seen at different sequential age periods.