222 Information Storage and Neural Control 





~ f ^ ' 'y 



/ 



./ 



Fig. 25. Slightly higher power photomicrograph through region of mirror focus. 

 The appearance of normal cortical cells with this method is seen in the lower 

 right and upper left hand corners. Methyl green pyronin stain. Magnifica- 

 tion x85 (39). 



Interpretation of the histochemical results is still an entirely 

 open question. The evidence is not sufficient to conclude that the 

 alteration in RNA is specifically related to afferent bombardment 

 since, although the general areas coincide, there is no way to 

 know whether a given pyronin-dense cell has participated in the 

 epileptiform activity. Furthermore the nature of the nucleotide- 

 dye mole interrelation is still incompletely understood (52). 

 Increased staining with basic dyes does not necessarily indicate 

 an increase in absolute amount of RNA. It is also possible that 

 changes in polymerization and possibly submolecular factors 

 affecting charge distribution may influence dye-binding. 



Despite many areas of uncertainty the bulk of experimental 

 evidence is consistent with the notion that except for certain 

 plant viruses the nucleotide sequence in RNA is specified by 

 genetic information in DNA. If the DNA-RNA specification 



