Myelin: A One-Dimensional Biological “Crystal” for X-Ray and Neutron Scattering - Molecules: Nucleation, Aggregation and Crystallization - page 77

Fig. 2. Diffraction patterns for rabbit sciatic nerves, with the intensity on a log scale plot-
ted against diffraction angle R ( = 2sinθ / λ). The neutron diffraction data (upper) was
obtained from nerve in D 2 O-Ringer's solution, using a neutron beam having a wavelength
of 4.06 Å. The X-ray diffraction data (lower) was from nerve in Ringer's solution, and the
wavelength was 1.54 Å. Note that the relative intensities are very different between the
two spectra, reflecting the fact that neutrons and X-rays interact very differently with mat-
ter — neutrons interact with atomic nuclei whereas X-rays interact with atomic electrons.
[Modified from Fig. 11 of Kirschner and Caspar (1977), and used with kind permission of
Springer Science and Business Media.]
cells in the peripheral nervous system and of oligodendrocytes in the
central nervous system. The myelination occurs in such a way that the extra-
cellular membrane leaflets become apposed to one another as do the cyto-
plasmic leaflets (Geren, 1954). In the internode of the sheath, this geometry
results in formation of a one-dimensional (1D) lattice of membrane pairs