Morphometric analysis of Mauthner axon cytoskeletal components in adult and subadult fish.

: A previous cytoskeletal analysis on trout MA during developmental stages demonstrated, during the subadult stages, neurofilaments (NF) as main components as expressed by the high values of neurofilament to microtubules (MT) ratio which was found to be of the order of 300:1. Since the MA cytoskeletal composition is not known in the adult fish, the MA cytoskeletal composition has been compared to other axons of much smaller diameter of the fasciculus longitudinalis medialis (flm) among which the MA run in the ventral spinal cord. The following parameters were measured on conventional electron microscopy in MA and flm axons cross sections micrographs by means of a computer linked graphic tablet (Apple II): axonal caliber, number of microtubules (MT), microtubular (MT/microns2) and neurofilament (NF/microns2) densities. The analysis of these parameters demonstrated that neurofilaments are the main architectural components in the adult and subadult fish MA and flm axons. However, MA cytoskeletal composition differs from the other flm axons because of its particular very high ratio of neurofilaments to microtubules. The inverse relationship of axonal caliber to microtubular density, previously found in the trout during developmental stages and suggested also for many other vertebrate species, was further confirmed for flm axons which, with calibers 10 times smaller than MA, exhibit a microtubular density 10 times larger.