Enucleation and Formation of Cyto- and Karyoplasts and Their Fusion with Neuron Bodies

We report here studies on isolated neurons from the mollusk Lymnaea stagnalis using enucleation of neurons to prepare cytoplasts, which were then fused with other neurons to obtain hybrids. These experiments showed that isolated neurons were able to fuse with each other to form binucleate cells and that they could be enucleated to form cyto- and karyoplasts which were able to form complex fusion products: cell body/cytoplast, cytoplast/karyoplast, etc. All incontrovertible indications of fusion as described for nerve cell body fusion were observed. These studies demonstrated the possibility of artificial fusion of amputated fragments of neuroplasm with neuron bodies, i.e., the metabolic centers of other cells. In theory, this means that in vivo amputated neuron processes can also be fused with new cells.