Cerebrospinal fluid contacting neurons inside the regenerating caudal spinal cord of xenopus tadpoles

Abstract

This electron microscopical analysis of the regenerating tail spinal cord in Xenopus tadpoles reports the presence of cells recognizable as cerebrospinal fluid contacting neurons (CSFCNs) after 13, 24 and 30 days of regeneration. The majority of these cells are localized in the latero‐ventral portion of the central canal, the same location they occupy during normal development. These neuronal elements are derived from ependymal cells, and after one month of regeneration they receive synapses of not‐determined origin. This research stresses that the regeneration of CSFCNs is a common phenomenon in Xenopus, as well as in other low vertebrates, and suggests that tail CSFCNs could be mechanoreceptors. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.