Nerve fibers of the human fasciculus gracilis were studied on 10 male cadavers aged 41-97 years using a diseriminative staining method and a microscopic image-analyzing system. Our data show that the transverse areas of axons in the human fasciculus gracilis significantly decrease with age, while no significant correlation was observed between the number of fibers and age.

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Small pieces of mouse aorta were cultured in collagen gels, and the formation of capillary-1ike tubes from the aortic explant was observed under phase-contrast and transmission electron mieroscopes. Migration of fibroblastic cells from the aortic explant occurred in 2 days. After about 10 days of culture, capillary-like tubes from the aortic explant were formed in the collagen gels. An immunohistochemical study on the collagen gel culture revealed the expression of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) near the aortic explant at the active initial stage, with random migration of fibroblastic cells expressing FGF-9. mRNA was isolated from these cultures, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain-reaction (RT-PCR) of the cultures revealed the expressions of both FGF-2 and FGF-9. Based on our results, we propose that FGF-9 is also related to angiogenic events.

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GABA-immunoreactive (ir) primary sensory neurons have been reported in many studies. However, the role of GABA in the pimiary sensory neurons and their targets is quite open to question. The present study aimed to examine the GABA-ir neurons in the rat trigeminal ganglion (TG), for the first step of functional study on them. Some neurons in the TG showed GABA-ir, whitchwere ranged from large to small size. The total number of examined TG neurons from 6 ganglia was 2,531, of which 462 neurons (18.3%) showed GABA-ir the large subpopulation of GABA-ir TG neurons is likely to involve in nerve-muscle functions, whereas medium and small subpopulations might participate in cutaneous nociceptive sensory function. The present findings demonstrated a considerable number of sensory neurons containing GABA in the rat TG. Functional studies on GABA-ir neurons in the TG would be an interesting and important issues in future studies. The next aim of our study is to examine the size distribution of GABAergic neuronsand the coexistence with other neurotransmitters in the rat TG.

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A rare variation in the arterial pattern was found in the right arm of an 87-year-old male cadaver in a student dissection practice. in this case, the superficial brachial and superficial subscapular arteries coexisted in the absence of the normal brachial artery (A. brachialis profunda). After branching off a 1arge-sized superficial subscapular artery, the axillary artery did not penetrate the brachial plexus and gave rise to a superficial brachial artery, which arose from the axillary artery at the point between the ansa pectoralis and ansa mediana, and descended ventral to the median nerve branching off the profunda brachil and superior and inferior ulnar collateral arteries. The superficial brachial artery finally divided into the radial and ulnar arteries in the cubital fossa. The superficial subscapular artery passed inferior and dorsal to the medial cord of the brachial plexus, giving off the lateral thoracic artery, and then branched off into the thoracodorsal, circumflex scapular and posterior circumflex humeral arteries. Thus the main nerves of the brachial plexus were sandwiched between the superficial brachial artery and the superficial subscapular artery system. The morphological and clinical significance of this variant are discussed.

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Using 10 osteoligamentous vertebral columns obtained from elderly donated cadavers, we deseribe in detail degenerative changes of the articular cartilage in lumbar zygapophysial joints to show which portion in a facet is specffically affected. Degenerative changes, including extended cartilage defects, occurred in multiple facets of every specimen. The results demonstrated 5 basic morphologies of degeneration, i.e., 1) marginal dominace in the articular surface, 2) lower segment dominance except for the lowest (L5/S) facet, 3) advancement in the inferior articular process, 4) cranial and caudal dominance rather than the dorsal dominance in the articular surface and 5) progress in a mirror-image manner. These rules seemed to be consistent with differences in size, shape and kinesiological aspects of the facet between segments and between portions in a facet.

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