Ordered arrays of thin filaments (65 A diameter) along with other apparently random arrangements of thin and thick filaments (100-200 A diameter) are observed in contracted guinea pig taenia coli rapidly fixed in glutaraldehyde . The thin-filament arrays vary from a few to more than 100 filaments in each array . The arrays are scattered among isolated thin and thick filaments . Some arrays are regular such as hexagonal ; other arrays tend to be circular. However, few examples of rosettes with regular arrangements of thin filaments surrounding thick filaments are seen . Optical transforms of electron micrographs of thinfilament arrays give a nearest-neighbor spacing of the thin filaments in agreement with the "actin" filament spacing from x-ray diffraction experiments . Many thick filaments are closely associated with thin-filament arrays . Some thick filaments are hollow circles, although triangular shapes are also found . Thin-filament arrays and thick filaments extend into the cell for distances of at least a micron . Partially relaxed taenia coli shows thin-filament arrays but few thick filaments . The suggestion that thick filaments aggregate prior to contraction and disaggregate during relaxation is promoted by these observations . The results suggest that a sliding filament mechanism operates in smooth muscle as well as in striated muscle .
To correlate periaxonal tissue layer resistance with Schwann cell layer anatomy, cross and longitudinal sections of giant axons of Loligo pealei were examined by transmission electron microscopy. Measurements were made of the width and frequency of mesaxonal clefts entering the Schwann cell layer from the periaxonal space and leaving the cell layer adjacent to the basal lamina. The average mesaxonal cleft width is 10.5 nm. One cm2 of the giant axon surface is enclosed by a single cell layer containing about 690 000 Schwann cells. One cm2 of axon surface has a sheath mesaxonal area of 0.002 cm2 at the periaxonal surface and 0.016 cm2 at the basal lamina, the mesaxons branching frequently as they cross the sheath. The volume of the Schwann cell layer extracellular space was estimated to be roughly 1% of the Schwann cell layer volume. Several models were used to predict the resistance R, across the Schwann cell layer. Assuming the mesaxonal clefts contain seawater, and can be lumped into volume conductors having simple geometries, then (normalized for one cm2 of axon surface) R was estimated to be between 0.4 and 0.9 omega cm2. This compares favourably with electrophysiological estimates of the periaxonal tissue resistance (current clamp value = 0.9 omega cm2 and the voltage clamp value = 1.4 omega cm2) as these electrically measured values include the resistance across the outer connective tissue layer as well as the Schwann cell layer. The value of the Schwann cell membrane capacity was estimated to be approximately 0.7 muF/cm2.
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