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Cytological and cytochemical (RNA) studies on rubral neurons after unilateral rubrospinal tractotomy: The impact of GM 1 ganglioside administration
Author(s) -
Barron K. D.,
Banerjee M.,
Dentinger M. P.,
Scheibly M. E.,
Mankes R.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.490220313
Subject(s) - atrophy , axotomy , lesion , spinal cord , red nucleus , corticospinal tract , endocrinology , pathology , medicine , anesthesia , biology , nucleus , anatomy , neuroscience , central nervous system , radiology , diffusion mri , magnetic resonance imaging
The rubrospinal tract (RST) was cut unilaterally at C2–3 segment in 21 rats that were killed 3, 7, 10, 14, 28, 60, and 90 days later. Additionally, 14 rats, killed 14 or 28 days after lesioning, were treated postoperatively by daily intraperitoneal injections of GM 1 ganglioside. Six unoperated, untreated rats served as controls. In untreated animals, axotomized neurons of the magnocellular division of the red nucleus (RN) exhibited cytoplasmic, nuclear, and nucleolar atrophy 7–10 days postoperatively. Atrophy progressed through the 90th postoperative day. Regression analyses disclosed a bimodal pattern to cytoplasmic and nucleolar atrophy, with an initial rapid phase changing to a slower but progressive mode from 14 days postoperatively. Nuclear atrophy proceeded in a unimodal manner. GM 1 treatment did not affect these atrophic processes. Neuronal loss did not occur in the axotomized RN through the 60th postoperative day. Axotomized neurons of untreated rats showed significant and progressive reductions in mean somal (cytoplasmic) and nucleolar RNA from, respectively, the 7th and 14th postoperative day. GM 1 partly prevented these RNA losses. Both in treated and untreated rats, spinal cord lesions contained many axonal sprouts 2 to 4 weeks after surgery, but newly generated axons did not traverse the rostro‐caudal extent of any lesion.