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THE EFFECTS OF CARBON MONOXIDE ON NEURONS OF THE CEREBELLUM *
Author(s) -
CHANPALAY VICTORIA,
MCCROSKEY L.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
neuropathology and applied neurobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.538
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1365-2990
pISSN - 0305-1846
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2990.1976.tb00504.x
Subject(s) - cerebellum , cerebellar cortex , purkinje cell , biology , microglia , neuroscience , central nervous system , neuron , pathology , anatomy , medicine , inflammation , immunology
The effects of carbon monoxide on neurons of the cerebellum Acute CO exposure in rats produces multifocal edema and neuroglial swelling in cerebellar cortex and nuclei. Chronic multiple daily exposures to CO produce degenerative changes in neurons–shrinkage of cell somata and dendrites, enlargement of nuclei and nucleoli, vacuolation in neuronal cytoplasm, pyknosis and ultimate engulfment by microglia. Focal areas of Purkinje cell loss are typical; individual basket cells and their axons, stellate cells and the deep nuclear neurons are severely affected. Counts of Purkinje cells and their dendritic thorns show reductions of 30% and 31% respectively in affected regions. In foci of severe Purkinje cell loss, dendritic thorns of the neighboring cells which remain assume a greater number of synapses with unusual presynaptic partners, e. g. both parallel fibers and climbing fibers in a single thorn. An increase of 4.2% more synapses per thorn was measured when compared to the normal. Thus, the stress of chronic CO exposure stimulates synaptic plasticity or a compensatory remodelling of neuronal elements in the central nervous system. A scheme is proposed to summarize these changing relationships caused by the loss of some dendritic thorns and the migration of the presynaptic partners to other surviving thorns.