[Quantitative examinations of stellate cell types of the regio cingularis mesoneocorticalis in comparison to the adjacent regions (mesoarchicortex and neocortex) after deafferentation in the rat].

Stellate cells of three adjacent subregions of the cingulate cortex (neocortex, mesoneocortex, mesoarchicortex) in the rat were analyzed quantitatively. The parameters of the dendritic tree and the spine distribution show some regional differences in the subregions. These results provide evidence for differences in the phylogenetical differentiation level of the subregions. For the characterization of this level dendritic parameters are more valuable than spine values. Isodendritic stellate cells without spines (I/OS)--which represent a phylogenetical older type--in the lower layers of the mesoneocortex are endowed with widely branched dendritic trees and with numerous varicosities (multisynaptic contacts). In the neocortex small, highly branched spiny stellate cells dominate in upper layers. Due to lesions of thalamic afferences to the cingulate cortex the isodendritic stellate cells without spines in the mesoneocortex show a significant decrease of synaptic contacts and of the size of pericarya and dendritic trees.