Similarities Between the Satellite Cells of Sensory and Autonomic Ganglia and Schwann Cells

Abstract

As stated in Sect. 2, in sensory ganglia, each nerve cell body with the initial segment of its axon is generally enveloped by its own satellite cell sheath, which is in turn separated from the sheaths belonging to the other neurons by intervening connective tissue (Fig. 2). Therefore, each nerve cell body together with its satellite cell sheath constitutes a discrete unit; in each unit the neuron represents the central element around which the satellite cells are arranged (Fig. 2). The same arrangement is found in autonomic ganglia. The nerves, too, have a variable number of units, each one consisting of one or more axons surrounded by a chain of Schwann cells. In sensory and autonomic ganglia and in the nerves, satellite and Schwann cells surround the various parts of the neurons, being intimately apposed to these.