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Reissner’s Fiber Mechanisms: Some Common Denominators

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The Subcommissural Organ

Abstract

In 1860, Professor Ernst Reissner published an anatomical study of the lamprey spinal cord, in which he described a fiberlike structure consistently occurring in the central canal (Fig. 1). This structure, which was later given the name “Reissner’s fiber”, was found to be a regular component of the cavities of the vertebrate central nervous system, extending caudad from the third brain ventricle. The fiber is a secretory product (cf. Studnička 1899), which in vertebrates is produced by the subcommissural organ at the diencephalic roof (Kolmer 1921; Mazzi 1952; Wingstrand 1953). It stains intensely with chrome-alum hematoxylin (Mazzi 1952); it is acellular and not surrounded by cytomembranes (Afzelius and Olsson 1957). It was early concluded that a fiber mechanism of this general design is very conservative, having the same fundamental pattern in all members of the subphylum Craniata (vertebrates).

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Olsson, R. (1993). Reissner’s Fiber Mechanisms: Some Common Denominators. In: Oksche, A., Rodríguez, E.M., Fernández-Llebrez, P. (eds) The Subcommissural Organ. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78013-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78013-4_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78015-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78013-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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