Brain research
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The selectivity of the neurotoxic lesion of Ricinus communis agglutinin I (RCAI) in rat dorsal root ganglia was examined. RCAI was injected in the sural nerve on one side. Two weeks later, the injected nerve, as well as the ipsilateral peroneal nerve, were examined in 1-micron-thick plastic embedded sections in the light microscope. ⋯ Three weeks after unilateral injections of RCAI in the sciatic nerve, the L4-L6 dorsal root ganglion cells were counted bilaterally. On average, relative neuronal numbers between injected and uninjected sides were 0.36, 0.15 and 0.64 for L4, L5 and L6 respectively. From these data we conclude that the sciatic nerve receives on average of 64%, 85% and 36%, respectively of its sensory contribution from these ganglia.