Gap junctions in ventral cochlear nucleus of the rat. A possible new example of electrotonic junctions in the mammalian C.N.S.

Abstract During an ultrastructural study of normal and primary deafferented anterior ventral cochlear nuclei of the rat, small maculae of gap junctions have been observed between neuronal elements. Gap junctions were found mainly between neuronal perikarya, and less frequently between perikarya and dendrites, or between initial segments of axons and dendrites. Deafferentation does not alter the neuronal gap junctions. These results provide morphological evidence in favour of electrotonic coupling between neurones of the anterior ventral cochlear nucleus. The finding of gap junctions in another region of the mammalian brain contrasts with current ideas that electrical synapses are only important in primitive forms of phylogeny.