In the present study, we examined the age-related intra-axonal accumulation of neurofilaments in the dorsal column nuclei of the cat by using immunohistochemical techniques combined with light and ...electron microscopy. Light microscopic analysis revealed oval or circular immunostained structures in the dorsal column nuclei of old cats. These immunostained structures were not observed in the material obtained from adult controls. Under the electron microscope, it was discovered that the immunostained structures were greatly enlarged axons with disrupted myelin sheaths. These enlarged axons contained massive accumulations of neurofilaments, some mitochondria, vacuoles and dense granules. The abnormalities of the myelin sheaths included the breaking of myelin at several locations, a splitting and ballooning in the myelin lamellae of the sheath and a distended periaxonal space between the axon and myelin sheaths. These ultrastructural changes resembled the degenerative alterations that have been observed in the axons of human and animals suffering from a number of pathological conditions, including giant axonal neuropathy and toxic neuropathy. Therefore, severely altered axons with intra-axonal accumulation of neurofilaments appear to reflect chronic degenerative changes that are a component of the aging process.
In the present study, we compared the immunoreactivity of the midsized subunit of neurofilaments (NF-M) in the brainstem reticular formation of adult and old cats. There was a dramatic decrease in ...immunoreactivity in most reticular nuclei in the old cats. The most obvious reduction in these regions occurred in dendritic arborizations. In contrast, a small number of nuclei showed a slight increase in immunoreactivity in the aged animals. The age-related changes in immunoreactivity indicate that there is an alteration of NF-M content in reticular neurons and their processes in old age. Such changes in NF-M content may be the basis for the alterations in the morphology of reticular neurons in aged animals.
This study documents age-related changes in the immunoreactivity of the medium-molecular weight subunit of neurofilaments in sensory and motor neurons in the brainstem of the cat. In old age, there ...was a clear decrease in immunoreactivity in the following brainstem sensory and motor nuclei: sensory trigeminal, gracile, cuneate, and facial motor. Only a few neuronal perikarya and dendrites were labeled in these nuclei in old cats; moreover, when present, the labeling was weak. In contrast, in adult cats, these nuclei contained intensely stained neuronal perikarya and dendrites. In other sensory and motor nuclei of the brainstem, there was an obvious age-related increase in the immunoreactivity of the medium-molecular weight subunit of neurofilaments in the perikarya. Despite different patterns of age-related alterations in immunoreactivity within perikarya and dendrites in distinct brainstem regions, most sensory and motor axons in old cats were smaller than those in adult cats. A decrease in the medium-molecular weight neurofilament subunit in the dendrites may be the basis for the dendritic atrophy that has been shown to occur in sensory nuclei in old animals. The decrease in axonal size is likely to be one of the causes of the decrease in axonal conduction velocity, in these neurons, that was reported in our previous studies.
Al-Cu Alloy for Gas Panels Brusic, V.; d'Heurle, F. M.; MacInnes, R. D. ...
IBM journal of research and development,
11/1978, Letnik:
22, Številka:
6
Journal Article
