Fusion of Brain Neurons in Rat Embryos

Transplanted neurons integrate into adult retinas and respond to light

“…These data argue against a hypothesis that transplanted cells fused with the host. Cell fusion has been reported for bone marrow-derived blood cells and oligodendrocytes 22 23 24 but only once for neurons, and under conditions quite different than in the present case 25 . Attempts at distinguishing donor mouse RGCs from host rat neurons using various antibodies against species-specific Thy1 antigens were inconclusive owing to cross-reaction between the closely related species.…”

Use of Cell Culture to Prove Syncytial Connection and Fusion of Neurons

“…This was characteristic both of S. Ramon y Cajal and of C. Golgi (Neuronismo o Reticularismo), either the neuronal or the reticular theory [11]. However, this classical approach in discussions "either -or" already at that time could have been replaced by the approach "both -and", as the third opinion already existed [12]. Some researchers adhering to the Neuronal Theory noted a possibility of the existence of the interneuronal syncytium in particular places and under some conditions [13,14].…”

“…16, c, d). The data obtained in model experiments in tissue culture about the syncytial fusion of neuronal bodies are leading us to another, seemingly independent problem of mechanism of formation of binucleated and polynucleated cells [12].…”

“…We were the first to reveal with aid of electron microscope the syncytial connection in situ in the piglet enteral nervous system [30]. Subsquently, this way of interneuronal connection was shown in molluscs [31,32], in the crawfish peripheral nervous system [33], in cat autonomic ganglia [34], in rabbit hippocampus [35,36], and in the human cerebral cortex [12,37].…”

“…Also attention is to be paid to data of study of neocortex of the 14-day rat embryos [12]. The syncytial cytoplasmic connections in these embryos were detected at the time when the developed chemical synapses still were absent.…”