Generalized giant axonal neuropathy: a filament-forming disease of neuronal, endothelial, glial, and schwann cells in a patient without kinky hair

Acta Neuropathol. 1977 Nov 28;40(3):213-8. doi: 10.1007/BF00691956.

Abstract

The process of Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN) is not restricted to the peripheral nerves, but also involves the central nervous system. In a 25 year old man with normal hair, abundant axon swellings and spheroids were observed in the spinal cord, brain system, and cerebral cortex. The findings in the sural nerve have already been published by Boltshauser et al. (1977). Accumulations of filaments in the axons and in the perineural cells were accompanied by Rosenthal fibres. The ultrastructural pattern of GAN differs clearly from that of Neuroaxonal Dystrophies.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Astrocytes / ultrastructure
  • Axons / ultrastructure*
  • Biopsy
  • Brain / ultrastructure
  • Capillaries / ultrastructure
  • Central Nervous System Diseases / pathology*
  • Endothelium / ultrastructure
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Menkes Kinky Hair Syndrome / pathology
  • Muscles / innervation
  • Muscular Atrophy / pathology
  • Myelin Sheath / ultrastructure
  • Neurofibrils / ultrastructure*
  • Neuroglia / ultrastructure*
  • Oligodendroglia / ultrastructure
  • Schwann Cells / ultrastructure*
  • Spinal Cord / blood supply
  • Spinal Cord / ultrastructure
  • Sural Nerve / ultrastructure