[Ultrastructural changes in the cerebral cortex of an 100 1/2-year-old man].

Age changes in fields 39 and 40 (after Broadman) have been studied in a 100 years and 6 months old man died from peritonitis resulted from the surgical intervention, performed in connection with strangulation of the hernia. In the medical history there were no ++neuro-physical signs. The material was taken in 1 h 15 min after clinical death had been stated.

[Ultrastructure of epileptic foci in temporal epilepsy].

An electron microscopy study was conducted on the material of biopsies from the removed epileptic foci localized in the hippocamp and fields 21 and 38 of the temporal cortex of 11 patients with temporal epilepsy. There was the constant presence of so-called dark and altered light neurocytes whose cytoplasm had experienced considerable changes and was saturated with various inclusions. The axons and dendrites of the cells underwent peculiar degeneration.

[Special forms of ultrastructural changes in dendrites and axons in the human and cat brain].

The investigation has been performed in the human brain of persons at the age of 75-87 years, in the auditory cortex of old cats and in bioplates obtained from epileptic foci of the hippocamp and the temporal cortex of 11 patients suffering from temporal epilepsy (at the age of 12-29 years). Distal parts of the dendrites contain a large amount of myelin-like membranous and electron opaque inclusions. In most cases these dendrites have no axodendritic contacts.

The morphological basis of age-induced memory changes.

The results are presented of a layer-by-layer electron microscopic study of the cortex (40th area) in persons aged 78, 79, and 83 years whose anamneses did not include any neuropsychic disorders and who had died during surgical intervention These findings are examined in the light of current hypotheses about the morphological substrate of the mechanisms of memory. Cortical changes are uncovered which, according to these hypotheses, lie at the basis of the memory mechanisms. These include changes of the cytoplasm, neurocytes, dendrites, spines, axons, and their terminals.

[Age-related changes in interneuronal synapses in human cerebral cortex].

In 5 persons that did not suffer from any psychical or neurological illnesses, at the age of 75-83 years, ultrastructure of dendrites, axons and axonal terminals was studied in the 40th field of the cerebral cortex, layer after layer. Various forms of changes in the dendrites were revealed demonstrating certain degenerative alterations in them and their loss of synaptic contacts with the axonal terminals. Two types of the axonal changes were followed.