Summary
Morphological studies of experimental thalidomide neuropathy have thus far failed to show any significant structural changes. The present investigation was performed on sural nerves of female New Zealand white rabbits showing a reduction of sensory conduction velocity after oral treatment with thalidomide (100 mg/kg b.wt. per day) for a period of 33 weeks. Rabbits of the same strain and equal sex, weight, and number served as controls. Very few nerve fibers were undergoing Wallerian degeneration in both groups, experimental animals and controls. Morphometry, however, revealed a statistically significant reduction of the mean myelin thickness of sural nerve fibers in the thalidomide group of rabbits as compared to controls. The mean myelin thickness of the largest nerve fibers was also significantly smaller than in the control group. On the other hand, axonal diameters were not significantly altered. The association between the decrease of the sensory conduction velocity, the reduction of the myelin sheath thickness, and the chronic thalidomide application is discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boyd IA, Kalu KU (1979) Scaling factor relating conduction velocity and diameter for myelinated afferent nerve fibres in the cat hind limb. J Physiol (Lond) 289:277–297
Ericsson JLE, Biberfeld P (1967) Studies on aldehyde fixation. Fixation rates and their relation to fine structure and some histochemical reactions in liver. Lab Invest 17:281–299
Fullerton PM, O'Sullivan DJ (1968) Thalidomide neuropathy: A clinical, electrophysiological, and histologial follow-up study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 31:543–551
Hedley-Whyte ET (1973) Myelination of rat sciatic nerve: Comparison of undernutrition and cholesterol biosynthesis inhibition. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 32:284–302
Hursh JB (1939) Conduction velocity and diameter of nerve fibers. Am J Physiol 127:131–139
Jakobsen J (1976) Axonal dwindling in early experimental diabetes: I. A study of cross-sectioned nerves. Diabetologia 12:539–546
Krigman MR, Hogan EL (1976) Undernutrition in the developing rat: effect upon myelination. Brain Res 107:239–255
Krücke W, von Hartrott H-H, Schröder JM, Thomas E, Gibbels E, Scheid W (1971) Licht- und elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen zum Spätstadium der Thalidomidneuropathie. Fortschr Neurol Psychiat 39:15–50
Oldfors A, Ullmann M (1980) Motor nerve conduction velocity and nerve fibre diameter in experimental protein deprivation. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 51:215–221
Schröder JM (1972) Altered ratio between axon diameter and myelin sheath thickness in regenerated nerve fibers. Brain Res 45:49–65
Schröder JM, Gibbels E (1977) Marklose Nervenfasern im Senium und im Spätstadium der Thalidomid-Polyneuropathie: Quantitativ-elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen. Acta neuropathol (Berl) 39:271–280
Schwab BW, Arezzo JC, Paldino AM, Flohé L, Matthiesen T, Spencer PS (1984) Rabbit sural-nerve responses to chronic treatment with thalidomide and supidimide. Muscle Nerve 7:362–368
Sima A (1972) Relation between the number of myelin lamellae and axon circumference in fibers of ventral and dorsal roots and optic nerve in normal, undernourished, and rehabilitated rats, an ultrastructural morphometric study. Acta Physiol Scand 410:1–38
Wilsmann K (1982) Effect of supidimide long-term treatment on sensitive nerve conduction velocity in New Zealand albino rabbits. Arzneimittelforsch 32:900
Sugimura K, Windebank AJ, Natarajan V, Lambert EH, Schmidt HHO, Dyck PJ (1980) Interstitial hyperosmolarity may cause axis cylinder shrinkage in streptozotocin diabetic nerve. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 39:710–721
Sugimura K, Dyck PJ (1981) Sural nerve myelin thickness and axis cylinder caliber in human diabetes. Neurology (NY) 31:1087–1091
Zemp C, Bestetti G, Rossi GL (1981) Morphologic and morphometric study of peripheral nerves from rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 53:99–106
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schröder, J.M., Matthiesen, T. Experimental thalidomide neuropathy: The morphological correlate of reduced conduction velocity. Acta Neuropathol 65, 285–292 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687010
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687010