The trigemincd nerve root with special reference to the central‐peripheral transition zone: An electron microscopic study in the macaque

The entry zone of trigeminal sensory root fibers displays a “glial dome” covered by a basal lamina. This zone constitutes the “fibrous cone” of gross descriptions of the root and demarcates a sharp transition from peripheral to central nervous system. The dome consists of closely interwoven astrocyte processes, and appears to be identical to the subpial astrocyte meshwork elsewhere in the central nervous system. In the peripheral portion of the root, axons are surrounded by Schwann cells; those associated with myelin sheaths display distinctive laminar inclusions and pinocytotic vesicles lacking in Schwann cells which surround unmyelinated axons. In the peripheral region, separate and distinct endoneurial and perineurial layers of collagen could not always be identified. In the central part of the root, Schwann cells, fibroblasts, and collagen are absent and from the point of transition, the axons are principally surrounded by astrocytes. Oligodendrocytes are relatively rare in the transitional zone. The axonal transition from central to peripheral, occurs at nodes of Ranvier where the basal lamina of the dome is continuous with the basal lamina of the Schwann cell of the last peripheral internode. Some “islands” of glial tissue are interspersed in the root and ganglion but it was not established if these are completely discontinuous with the central “glial dome.” No ganglion cells have been found in such “islands,” nor in the glial dome.