Dense material associated with apparent presynaptic elements in cell cultures of the CNS.

In cell cultures of the rat cerebellum, electron-dense material has been found occasionally between adjacent cells. More often than not, presynaptic elements on one side of the dense material faced either neuronal or nonneuronal cells on the other side. The 20 nm thick material was stained either with the osmium-uranyl-lead (OsUL) procedure or with the ethanolic phosphotungstic acid (E-PTA) procedure. To determine the source of the dense material, various compounds were added to cultures at 7 days in vitro. Only a crude nuclear fraction was able to duplicate the appearance of the dense material associated with the apparent presynaptic elements. It was concluded that apparent presynaptic elements were associated with the polybasic dense material and that this type of association may duplicate an interaction in the normal development of synaptic contacts.