Summary
Phase and electron microscopic study of sciatic and peroneal nerves of thiamine deficient and chronically starved rats demonstrated an increase in the incidence of normal variations in myelin sheath contour throughout the internode, focal alterations in the lamellar pattern of myelin adjacent to sites of demyelination, and numerous, complex, redundant loops of axon-Schwann cell membrane which projected into axons of myelinated fibers. The paranodal axoplasm of a few fibers from thiamine deficient rats contained collections of vesicles, mitochondria and dense bodies. The significance of these observations is briefly discussed.
Zusammenfassung
Die Wirkung des chronischen Thiaminmangels auf das periphere Nervensystem wurde bei Ratten mit Hilfe des Phasenkontrast- und Elektronenmikroskops untersucht. Zu diesem Zweck wurden die Tiere einer Mangeldiät von 15 bis 35 Wochen Dauer unterworfen. Sie zeigen in dieser Zeit typische Veränderungen, nämlich einen Gewichtsverlust, eine auffällige Langsamkeit der Bewegungen, sowie Schwäche, Ataxie und Tod. Für die morphologischen Untersuchungen wurden die Tiere in verschiedenen Zeitabschnitten getötet und die Nervi ischiadici et peronaei in Osmiumtetroxyd fixiert und in Epon eingebettet. Phasenkontrast-und elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen zeigen einen Zuwachs der schon normalerweise zu beobachtenden Variationen der Markscheidenform über das ganze Internodium hinweg. Außerdem treten fokale Änderungen im lamellären Muster des Myelins in der unmittelbaren Nachbarschaft von Demyelinisationen auf. Dazu kommen zahlreiche komplexe Schlingen und Schleifen der Schwannschen Zellmembran, die in den Achsencylinder myeliniserter Fasern vorspringen. Das paranodale Axoplasma einzelner Nervenfasern von durch Thiaminmangel geschädigten Ratten läßt auffällige Ansammlungen von Bläschen, Mitochondrien und sogenannten „dense bodies” erkennen.
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This study was supported by Research Grants (C4955 and B3789) and a Special Fellowship (BT 504) from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda 14, Md.
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Collins, G.H., Webster, H.d.F. & Victor, M. The ultrastructure of myelin and axonal alterations in sciatic nerves of thiamine deficient and chronically starved rats. Acta Neuropathol 3, 511–521 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00688459
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00688459