Early effects of nerve growth factor on adrenergic neurons: an electron microscopic morphometric study of the rat superior cervical ganglion.

Nerve cells of the superior cervical ganglion of young rats (20 g body weight) were investigated electron microscopically 6 h, 24 h, 48 h and 5 days after subcutaneous injection of nerve growth factor (10 mug/g body weight every 24 h). By means of a planimetric method with high accuracy significant changes of the Nissl substance and the Golgi apparatus could be demonstrated as early as 6 h after injection. Within the Nissl bodies both the density of bound ribosomes on the cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum and the density of free ribosomes and polysomes decreased in a given field. This finding reflects a rearrangement of the Nissl substance and a spreading over larger areas of the cytoplasm, indicating an activation of the ribosomal system. The Golgi apparatus, in particular its outer part, increases in volume with time of nerve growth factor treatment. On the other hand, the total cell volume does not show significant changes before 48 h of nerve growth factor treatment. At this time an increase in the cytoplasmic volume can be seen, whereas the nuclear volume remains unchanged. The possibility of correlations of the present findings with data from biochemical studies done under similar experimental conditions is discussed.