Translations:E2198/9/en

As shown in the images below, SAC dendrites and DSGC dendrites indeed contact each other. However, not all points of contact are synapses. The researchers conjectured that "varicose" contacts, at which one dendrite seems to grasp or embrace another, were actual synapses, while "incidental" contacts were not synapses.

Varicose contacts (a,b) are synapses, as demonstrated by the presence of vesicles (b) in a conventionally stained dataset. Incidental contacts (c,d) are not synapses, as demonstrated by the absence of vesicles (d) in a conventionally stained dataset. Owing to its high resolution, EM reveals when a thin glial sheet is interposed between two neurons (e), a situation that would appear to be a contact point between the two neurons in a light microscopic image.