Abstract

Summary This paper reported postnatal changes in mitochondria of developing neuropil of rat inferior colliculus as revealed by quantitative and qualitative electron microscopy. The number of mitochondrial profiles per unit area increased 6-fold, and the mitochondrial volume fraction (%) increased 5-fold from birth to adulthood. The mean size of mitochondria remained fairly constant, while the mitochondrial matrix density and cristal volume increased gradually during the postnatal period. These morphological changes suggest that the capacity of rat inferior collicular neuropil for oxidative phosphorylation increases considerably with development. The temporal sequence of postnatal changes in mitochondria was determined, and an attempt was made to relate such changes to other submicroscopic events. The analysis indicates that there is no simple temporal correlation between postnatal mitochondrial changes and changes in plasma membrane surface area or rate of myelinogenesis. The reported changes in mitochondrial concentration may be related to increasing levels of synaptic activity in the neuropil.

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