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Mitochondrial myelin-like figures: A non-specific reactive process of mitochondrial phospholipid membranes to several stimuli

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Summary

Small concentric arrays resembling myelin figures were found in the liver cell mitochondria of fasted rats, of fasted rats given insulin and glucose, and of untreated fed rats. In addition to myelin-like figures, interdigitation of the membranes of adjacent mitochondria were common and often formed chains of mitochondria. Fusion between the outer membranes of mitochondria and protrusions of part of one mitochondrion into another were also found. Since mitochondrial myelin-like figures were even occasionally observed in control fed animals and since identical structures have been described in a number of unrelated conditions, it is concluded that they are not aetiologically specific. The myelin-like figures are considered to represent a form of focal mitochondrial phospholipid membrane degeneration under various stimuli.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Physiology, University of Toronto, Canada

    Yvi le Beux M. S., M. D., Geza Hetenyi Jr. & Melville J. Phillips M. D., F. R. C. P.

  2. Département d'Anatomie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada

    Yvi le Beux M. S., M. D.

  3. Department of Pathology, Mc Gill University, Montreal, Canada

    Melville J. Phillips M. D., F. R. C. P.

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  1. Yvi le Beux M. S., M. D.
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  2. Geza Hetenyi Jr.
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  3. Melville J. Phillips M. D., F. R. C. P.
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This work was supported by the Medical Research Council of Canada, the Banting Research Foundation and the Canada Arts Council.

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le Beux, Y., Hetenyi, G. & Phillips, M.J. Mitochondrial myelin-like figures: A non-specific reactive process of mitochondrial phospholipid membranes to several stimuli. Z. Zellforsch. 99, 491–506 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00340941

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