author's abstract OK THIS paper ISSUED by 



THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVI E, SEPTEMBER 29 



THE MITOCHONDRIA IN NERVE CELLS DURING 



HIBERNATION AND INANITION IN THE 



WOODCHUCK (MARMOTA MONAX) 



A. T. RASMUSSEN 

 Institute of Anatomy, Medical School, University of Minnesota 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 37 



Material and methods 39 



Results and discussion 42 



Summary 47 



INTRODUCTION 



The discovery of mitochondria (chondriosomes) in practically 

 all living cells — except possibly in the simple blue-green algae, 

 Cyanophyceae, and in most bacteria — and the striking similarity 

 between those in plants and those in animals, add much interest 

 to the question of the role played by these cytoplasmic granules, 

 as is evident from the increasing number of papers appearing on 

 the various phases of the subject. Since excellent general dis- 

 cussions are found in many publications, none will be attempted 

 in this brief report. Four of the more recent papers, by E. V. 

 Cowdry ('16 a, '18), N. H. Cowdry ('17), and by Duesberg ('19), 

 taken together cover the subject most admirably. E. V. Cow- 

 dry's 1918 article is unusually comprehensive. It is fully evi- 

 dent from the literature that the function of mitochondria is a 

 much disputed question. The widespread distribution and great 

 similarity wherever found naturally suggest some close connec- 

 tion with fundamental cell processes. 



Alterations in the number, size, shape, and staining reaction 

 as a result of degrees of cell activity has been described to some 

 extent especially in glands. But the literature on the corre- 

 spondence between mitochondria and functional states in nerv- 



37 



