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Death of the central neuron: An electron microscopic study of thalamic retrograde degeneration following cortical ablation

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Journal of Neurocytology

Summary

A series of twenty-seven rabbits were subjected to extensive aspiration lesions of limbic, striate and somato-sensory cortex, followed by electron microscopic examination of the antero-ventral, dorsal lateral geniculate and ventro-basal thalamic nuclei at various post-operative periods ranging from I to 238 days. Terminal degeneration occurs after 24 h and is seen in abundance during the second and third day. Neuronal perikaryal alterations become evident by day 2 and include the deterioration of endoplasmic reticulum with an apparent significant ribosomal loss, in addition to the incremental appearance of vacuoles and large homogeneous dense bodies. During the second and third post-operative weeks, a period in which the rate of neuronal depletion is maximal, many degenerating cells are characterized both by disruption of nuclear and cytoplasmic components, and the appearance of complex pleomorphic electron dense bodies thought to constitute sites of perikaryal autolysis. From the fourth to the thirty-fourth post-operative week, virtually all remaining neurons gradually disappear from the zones of degeneration.

Neuronal degeneration is accompanied by astrocytic hypertrophy and infiltration of the degenerating neuropil by mesodermal elements, tentatively designated as‘M’ cells (Matthews and Kruger, 1973b). However, despite this extensive non-neuronal reaction, little evidence for significant neuronophagia could be found. Loss of axoplasm, destruction of thalamo-cortical synaptic connections and massive deafferentation of thalamic neurons, partially owing to anterograde degeneration of cortico-fugal axons, are discussed as possible factors which influence the rate and severity of retrograde atrophy.

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  1. Department of Anatomy and Brain Research Institute, U.C.L.A. School of Medicine, 90024, Los Angeles, California

    Murray A. Matthews

  2. Department of Anatomy, Louisiana State University Medical Center, 1190 Florida Avenue, 70119, New Orleans, Louisiana

    Murray A. Matthews

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Matthews, M.A. Death of the central neuron: An electron microscopic study of thalamic retrograde degeneration following cortical ablation. J Neurocytol 2, 265–288 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01104030

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