[Characteristics of the effect of protein-calorie insufficiency on synaptic contacts in the neocortex].

The quantitative ultrastructural study of changes in neocortical synaptic junctions were performed in undernourished adult and developing mice. The results obtained indicate that sectional area of the terminals occupied by synaptic vesicles; synaptic cleft width and postsynaptic membrane thickness significantly decrease in undernourished animals. Sectional area of the terminals significantly decreases in young undernourished mice and increases in adult ones. At the same time, the degree of spine apparatus destruction increases and the number of cisterns decreases in both groups of undernourished animals.