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Computerized time-lapse video recording was used to detect the process of formation of syncytial couplings between the processes of different neurons in dissociated neuron cultures. These studies showed that once the processes of one neuron had formed connections with another neuron, death of the cell body (its trophic center) was not followed by Wallerian degeneration. Translocation of cytoplasmic varicosities along the branches of one neuron to another was observed over periods of several hours. Electron microscopic studies of the nerve processes of cells in the intramural intestinal plexus in the early postnatal period demonstrated all the transitional states from fusion and perforation of the membranes of contacting dendrites to complete fusion of the neuroplasm of processes with formation of residual membranous structures at the location of the former intercellular contact.

The authors, whilst accepting the neuron theory, present data indicating the possibility that neuronal syncytia exist when myelin-coated ring-like structures form in the dendritic field, in nerve arcades close to neuron bodies, and on formation of thick, straight anastomoses between neuron bodies. Studies using computerized time-lapse videomicroscopy in cultures of isolated neurons demonstrated the mechanism by which these structures form. This report provides the first evidence of the time parameters of the fusion of the processes of a single live neuron; the fusion of fragments of an isolated glial-free fiber was demonstrated.

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