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Summary: Fluoride-resistant acid phosphatase (FRAP)-reactive terminals making contact with interneuronal soma are found in the substantia gelatinosa of the mouse spinal dorsal horn. About one half of the interneuronal somata receive FRAP-positive boutons. By electron microscopy, these FRAP-positive terminals appear small, dark, slender, roundish, cap-like, ellipsoid or sinuous and electron-dense, scalloped (fan-like) contours with dear spherical synaptic vesicles of variable size, some large dense-core vesides and mitochondria. All these features are very similar to those of capsaicinsensitive terminals. Thus they are considered to be nodceptive primary afferent endings. Therefore, some of the FRAPpositive terminals are suggested to have a modulatory role in the nociceptive circuit in the substantia gelatinosa.

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Key words:human tongue/ultrastructure/sublingual epithelium/interpapillar epithelium/microridge Abstract:The fine structures of the sublingual and interpapillar surfaces of the human tongue were examined by light microscopy, and scanning and transmission electron microscopies. After consent, specimens of the normal median area of the tongue were obtained during surgery. The patterns of microridges on the sublingual and interpapillar epithelial surfaces were similar, but the structure of the longitudinal sections of microridges in the sublingual and interpapillar epithelial cells differed. Long microridges with many branches were abundant in the sublingual area, but from the lingual apex to the lingual body, the proportion, height and number of microridge branches of interpapillar epithelial cells gradually decreased. The width of the interpapillar epithelial cell microridges was least in the lingual apex. The differences in microridge shape between the sublingual and interpapillar epithelial cells may be related to differences in retention of mucus, cell stretching and mechanical forces, reflecting the functions of the respective regions.