The experimental production and prevention of degeneration in the spinal cord / by Edward Mellanby.

  • Mellanby, Edward, Sir, 1884-1955.
Date:
[1931?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The experimental production and prevention of degeneration in the spinal cord / by Edward Mellanby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    cancer. The experimental work may also have some bearing on the causation and control of these conditions. A discussion on its possible significance will be given at the end of the report. Since Eijkman’s classical work published in 1897 [4] in which he produced polyneuritis gallinarum by means of diet, it has been recognized that the structure and function of peripheral nerves are controlled by a specific dietetic ingredient, namely vitamin Bx. Eijkman’s discovery formed the starting point of that fruitful field of study which embraces the group of pathological conditions known as “ deficiency diseases,” a group which includes scurvy, rickets, infantile tetany, dental hypoplasia and caries, periodontal disease (pyorrhoea alveolaris), pellagra and probably certain types of bacterial and worm infection. Of course there are, in some of these at least, other factors at work than the specific deficiency, but generally speaking, the other factors are harmless provided there is or has been no specific dietetic deficiency. Evidence will be given in this paper to show that demyelination of spinal :cord fibres is yet another instance which illustrates, among other things, the importance of specific dietetic factors in physiological development and function. Apart from the work of Orr and Eows [5] who studied spinal cord degeneration produced by bacteria and bacterial toxins, experimental investigation on this aspect of the central nervous system has not been very fruitful. In 1916, Hart, Miller and McCollum [6] described changes in the anterior horn cells of pigs’ cords produced by means of dieting. The changes described by these authors included shrinkage of the motor cells especially those of the ventro-medial and ventro-lateral columns, crowding of Nissl’s granules, the near obliteration of nucleus and nucleolus, and degeneration of the processes. No changes in the conducting fibres of the spinal cord were described. The authors decided they were dealing with a form of beri-beri, not, however, due to a deficiency of vitamin B, which was present in abundance in the wheat germ portion of the diet. Indeed the pathological condition was ascribed to a toxic action of the wheat germ. By supplementing the diet with alfalfa meal and meat scraps the cell changes were prevented. They ascribed the protective effects of these foodstuffs to a combined action of additional proteins, fat-soluble vitamin and a better salt mixture, but did not consider that any one of these substances could in itself afford protection. As far as I know, they did not follow up this work. More recently an account of an investigation bearing closely on the