Summary
Adult male mice, after transection of the facial nerve near the stylomastoid foramen, were sacrificed at predetermined intervals by the two-step perfusion fixation with a modified Heidenhain's Susa solution and subsequently autopsied after a delay of at least four hours.
The normal population of neurons consists of one “small” form with small basophil granules and one “large” with numerous coarse granules.
The initial change demonstrable in the “large” neuron 12 hours post-operatively is the loosening of cytoplasmic basophil material which proceeds to a disappearance peripherally at the 24-hour stage; simultaneously an increased staining of the non-particulate cytoplasm takes place. The disintegration of basophil material reaches a maximum 9 days post-operatively and from 12 through 49 days post-operatively occurs an increasingly prominent restoration of basophil material near the nuclear membrane. At the 49-day stage the number of recovered “large” neurons is small and many are lost. At the 9-and 12-days post-operative stages appears a dark abnormal neuron of questionable origin. Histiocyte reaction is apparent by an increasing number of mitotic figures along vascular walls from the 2nd day to the 9th day; the invasion of microglia cells occurs from the 3rd day and clusters of microglia from the 9th day.
The sequential changes in the “small” neuron are somewhat similar to those in the “large” type. In its recovered forms, it exceeds the “large” in number, but is abnormal in color and poorly supplied with basophil material.
A concurrent study of the rabbit facial nucleus discloses two types of neurons which after axotomy react differently but mimic at a slower rate the sequence in mice.
The cardinal feature of acute retrograde cell changes is the inability of the cytoplasm to store properly its basophil material, as first manifested by a loosening of texture with an early disappearance along the cell periphery and then by haphazard deposition of granular material.
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Cammermeyer, J. Peripheral chromatolysis after transection of mouse facial nerve. Acta Neuropathol 2, 213–230 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00686415
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00686415