Cell and Tissue Research

, Volume 257, Issue 2, pp 379–388 | Cite as

Changes in lectin binding of lumbar dorsal root ganglia neurons and peripheral axons after sciatic and spinal nerve injury in the rat

  • Jean-Marie Peyronnard
  • Louise Charron
  • Jean-Pierre Messier
  • Jeanne Lavoie
  • Christian Leger
  • Feliciana Faraco-Cantin
Article
Accepted:

Summary

The effects of chronic lesions of rat lumbar spinal or sciatic nerves on the binding of Glycine max (soybean) agglutinin to galacto-conjugates, in small-and medium-size primary sensory neurons of the L4 and L5 dorsal root ganglia, were examined over a 580-day period. Spinal nerve section resulted in a marked decrease in the population of stained neurons within 7 days. However, despite some retrograde morphological changes triggered by axonal injury, the proportion of stained nerve cells was normalized 180 days postoperatively. This temporary decrease in perikaryal lectin reactivity was initially associated with a marked accumulation of stained material in the nerve, proximal and distal to the site of section, with similar accumulations also being noticeable at each level of injury in sciatic nerves subjected to double ligature. This may reflect the presence of glycocompounds linked to the autolysis of nerve fibers during the phase of retrograde dying-back and Wallerian degeneration. At later stages, stained deposits could be seen scattered along central and peripheral axonal processes of the dorsal root ganglion neurons in the vicinity of the cell body. They may indicate a disturbance in the peripheral turnover of glycoproteins in chronically-transected nerves, with piling up of neuronal products. Sciatic nerve injury caused similar but less severe effects which, except for the L4 ganglion cells, were rapidly reversible.

Key words

Lectins Cytochemistry Dorsal root ganglia Axotomy Rat (Sprague-Dawley) 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1989

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jean-Marie Peyronnard
    • 1
  • Louise Charron
    • 1
  • Jean-Pierre Messier
    • 1
  • Jeanne Lavoie
    • 1
  • Christian Leger
    • 2
  • Feliciana Faraco-Cantin
    • 1
  1. 1.Centre de recherche en sciences neurologiques and Hôpital Hôtel-DieuMontréalCanada
  2. 2.Département d'informatique et de recherche opérationnelleUniversité de MontréalMontréalCanada

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