Vol 147, No 3 (2015)

Using Laboras hardware-software complex, which is a system of automatic registration of behavioral reactions, the locomotor activity 1-, 8- and 16-month-old male rats (12 animals in each group) was recorded followed by counting the number of neuron cell bodies of in the layer V of the motor cortex in Nissl stained slides. It was found that the number of neurons in the motor cortex varied in different age groups. Maximal number of neurons was observed in 8-month-old animals. Motor activity was found to correlate with the number of neurons.

The aim of this study was to examine the structural organization of processes of ependymocytes lining the lateral ventricles of the rat brain using vimentin immunocytochemistry and confocal laser microscopy. The study was performed on adult male rats (n=3). It was found that most typical ependymocytes had basal processes, while 1/ 3 of these cells had none. Some vimentinimmunopositive tanycyte-like cells with long processes appoaching blood vessels, were found inside the ependymal lining In some typical ependymocytes, cytroskeleton wa s formed by intermediate filaments of mixed type containing both vimentin and glial fibrillary acidic protein.

The study material included 105 isolated bone preparations of the atlas, 100 radiographs of the cervical region of the spine, 650 spiral computed tomography (SCT) scans and 224 protocols of duplex ultrasound scanning of extracranial portions of brachiocephalic arteries and transcranial duplex scanning. Kimmerle anomaly was detected in 18% of cases in the bone material, in 17% of the cases of SCT and in 15% of cases during radiological examination. The anomaly more often is unilateral, rarely - bilateral; it may be located medially or laterally, while the vertebral artery canal more frequently is closed, less commonly - open. Among the patients with Kimmerle anomaly, hemodynamically significant asymmetry of blood flow velocity in the vertebral arteries was detected in 78.5% of cases. Thus, the most important method of Kimmerle anomaly detection is SCT with contrast - enhanced artery imaging. However, each of the research methods successively. Each of research methods used consistently allows to obtain information both on anatomical variability of atlas developmental abnormalities (morphological characteristics) and on possible functional disorders, morphological basis of which is Kimmerle anomaly.

In recent years, there has been a steady increase of interest in various aspects of the organization and functioning of microglia. However, the information on modern immunocytochemical methods of its identification is ambiguous and requires systematization. In the present paper. the main attention is focused on microglial markers - the proteins (Iba-1, CD11b, CD68, HLA-DR, and some others) expressed by normal microgliocytes and those activated by the effects of damaging factors. Characterization of markers and methods of microglia immunocytochemical labeling is combined with an analysis of the data concerning the origin and structural organization of microgliocytes.