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Distributional pattern of apoptotic cells in rat cerebellar vermis experimentally induced by methylmercury intoxication
Author(s) -
Kobayashi Yoshiyasu,
Sawa Hirofumi,
Akagi Hirokatsu,
Itakura Chitoshi,
Fujioka Yasunori,
Nagashima Kazuo
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
neuropathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1440-1789
pISSN - 0919-6544
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1789.1998.tb00075.x
Subject(s) - cerebellar vermis , cerebellum , apoptosis , pathology , granule (geology) , medicine , neuroscience , cerebellar hemisphere , methylmercury , biology , anatomy , biochemistry , paleontology , ecology , bioaccumulation
This report deals with the distributional pattern of apoptotic granule cells in rat cerebellar vermis following experimental methylmercury chloride (MMC) toxicosis. The rats administered MMC showed clinical signs of hind leg paralysis around day 19 and this developed to moribund by day 26. Pathologic examination of the moribund animals revealed that cerebellar degeneration characterized by apoptosis of the granule cells was not equally distributed in the cerebellar vermis; apoptotic granule cells were observed in the lingula, central lobule, Lobulus ascendens, pyramis vermis and culmen in the order of decreasing frequency. This selective vulnerability in MMC intoxication is similar to the granule cell loss of Minamata disease in humans and suggests that this rat model is a useful pathobiologic model for studying cerebellar degeneration in Minamata disease.