Retrograde degeneration in the spinal nerves.

  • Ranson, Stephen Walter, 1880-1942.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Retrograde degeneration in the spinal nerves. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    but on the other hand Friedlander and Krause ('86) state that they are normal and that the atrophy must be due to a decrease in their number. There can be no doubt that some disappear since the Marchi stain reveals a certain number in the stages of dis- integration (human material, Flatau, '97; animal material, Mos- chaew '93, Cassirer '98, Ceni '99). The degeneration does not appear to affect more than a small part of the fibers of the funi- culus. In all the cases of amputation reported since 1875 there is essential uniformity as regards the changes in the ventral cornu on the side of the amputation in the segments associated with the injured nerves. The area of the cross-section of the cornu as a whole is considerably decreased, sometimes by as much as one- third its normal dimensions. The number of motor cells has been determined in a number of cases and found below that of the nor- mal side. It is especially the dorsolateral group of cells that is most affected; here there may be no more than two-thirds the original number (Marinesco '92). The remaining cells are often shrunken, and devoid of processes. In none of the amputation cases of the last thirty years has the dorsal cornu of the operated side been reported normal. The de- crease in the area of the cross-section, which may amount to one- half the original area (Switalski '01, case 4), is due in large part to the loss of medullated fibers (Knope '01). The substantia gelati- nosa and the column of Clarke are also markedly atrophied. The decrease in the size of the column of Clarke is due to a loss of both fibers and cells, and is found in the segments some distance removed from those primarily affected (Friedlander and Krause '86, Homen '90, and others). By far the most interesting point for us is the lack of data on the spinal ganglia; most observers have failed to take any note of them at all, or have overlooked the essential changes. Reynolds ('87) found an increased amount of connective tissue. Marinesco ('92) stares that although many nerve fibers had disappeared the spinal ganglion cells were intact. That these are the only in- stances where the spinal ganglia were studied in the autopsy cases is due, no doubt, to the- difficulty of securing these structures in the hurry of the autopsy room. I [OMEN ('90), in his extensive series of animal experiments, gave ial attention to this subject, but failed to find any change except