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PLASMA MEMBRANE PORES OF THE SCHWANN CELL IN WALLERIAN DEGENERATION: A MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS
Author(s) -
ABRAHAMS P. H.,
ALLT A. DAY AND G.
Publication year - 1983
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.1365-2990.1983.tb00112.x
Subject(s) - wallerian degeneration , schwann cell , pinocytosis , sciatic nerve , anatomy , membrane , materials science , peripheral nerve , chemistry , biophysics , pathology , cell , biology , medicine , endocytosis , biochemistry
Using the freeze‐fracture technique, myelinated fibres were examined from the rabbit sciatic nerve at 48 h after a proximal nerve crush. Employing computer‐aided morphometric techniques the distribution of Schwann cell plasma membrane pores was analysed. In both normal control and crushed nerves membrane pores were restricted to the cytoplasmic circumferential bands and longitudinal columns, which characterize the surface of the myelinated nerve fibre, and were absent from the flat plaque‐like areas delimited by the bands and columns. In approximately half of the myelinated fibres from the crushed nerves there was a five‐fold increase in the density of plasma membrane pores. This response of the Schwann cell was interpreted in terms of an increase in pinocytosis and related to regenerative phenomena in the peripheral nerve.