Abstract
Neurofilaments (NF) are architectural polymers that contribute to the radial dimensions of an axon. In general, the diameter of an axon Increases as a function of the number of neurofilaments. We have studied the space-filling properties of neurofilaments in two different types of axons that have a large neurofilament content -- somatic motor axons and parasympathetic axons of the oculomotor system. Both types of axons originate from neurons in the oculomotor nucleus and they course together (side-by-side) through the oculomotor nerve; nonetheless, the packing density of neurofilaments in the parasympthetic axons is 30% greater than the neurofilament density in the somatic motor axons. Visual inspection of electron micrographs of parasympathetic and somatic motor axons suggests that the neurofilaments are uniformly distributed in both types of axons. To test this possibility, we quantified the distributions of the neurofilaments and then compared those distributions with a randomly generated (Poisson) distribution.
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