[Ultrastructural changes in rabbit sensomotor cortex synapses following stimulation of the reticular formation].

Ultrastructural changes in the synapses of sensorimotor cortex caused by short and protracted stimulations of mid-brain reticular formation with single electric pulses were studied in rabbits. The observed submicroscopic shift in synaptic apparatus is regarded as a process of enhancing the activity of the sensorimotor synaptic apparatus with involvement of new interneuronal connections. Structural-functional changes in the synaptic apparatus occured at all levels of the sensorimotor cortex, with the predominance of this process at the upper level (layers I-IV); this is probably due to the greater representation of non-specific afferent endings in the upper cortical layers.