TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial distribution of fiber degeneration in acute hypoglycemic neuropathy in rat
AU - Yasaki, Shunji
AU - Dyck, Peter James
PY - 1991/11
Y1 - 1991/11
N2 - Hypoglycemia may cause axonal nerve fiber degeneration, but to do so it must be severe (<1.5 mmol/L) and of long duration (≥12 hours). Since in our previous study, systemic PO2, PCO2, pH, blood pressure, temperature, and hematocrit were maintained within physiologic limits, fiber degeneration cannot be attributed to systemic hypoxia. In this study the spatial distribution of axonal degeneration was assessed in transverse epoxy sections and teased fibers from different proximal-to-distal levels of nerves of the lower limb of the rats. Reactions in lumbar spinal motor neurons, spinal ganglia, and fasciculus gracilis were also studied. Axonal degeneration was the characteristic fiber alteration and it predominated in central fascicular distributions of distal sciatic, proximal tibial, and proximal peroneal nerves. This prox- imal-to-distal and central fascicular spatial distribution is not typical of distal polyneuropathy or of neuronal degeneration, but it is characteristic of a focal or multifocal nerve trunk neuropathy. Although local hypoxic-ischemic injury, possibly mediated by enhanced sympathetic tone, has not been excluded, we postulate a generalized deficiency of energy substrate manifesting itself by fiber degeneration at watershed zones of poorest perfusion.
AB - Hypoglycemia may cause axonal nerve fiber degeneration, but to do so it must be severe (<1.5 mmol/L) and of long duration (≥12 hours). Since in our previous study, systemic PO2, PCO2, pH, blood pressure, temperature, and hematocrit were maintained within physiologic limits, fiber degeneration cannot be attributed to systemic hypoxia. In this study the spatial distribution of axonal degeneration was assessed in transverse epoxy sections and teased fibers from different proximal-to-distal levels of nerves of the lower limb of the rats. Reactions in lumbar spinal motor neurons, spinal ganglia, and fasciculus gracilis were also studied. Axonal degeneration was the characteristic fiber alteration and it predominated in central fascicular distributions of distal sciatic, proximal tibial, and proximal peroneal nerves. This prox- imal-to-distal and central fascicular spatial distribution is not typical of distal polyneuropathy or of neuronal degeneration, but it is characteristic of a focal or multifocal nerve trunk neuropathy. Although local hypoxic-ischemic injury, possibly mediated by enhanced sympathetic tone, has not been excluded, we postulate a generalized deficiency of energy substrate manifesting itself by fiber degeneration at watershed zones of poorest perfusion.
KW - Energy substrate deficiency
KW - Hypoglycemia
KW - Insulin
KW - Nerve degeneration
KW - Neuropathy
KW - Watershed zones of poor nerve perfusion
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U2 - 10.1097/00005072-199111000-00001
DO - 10.1097/00005072-199111000-00001
M3 - Article
C2 - 1660919
AN - SCOPUS:0025989290
SN - 0022-3069
VL - 50
SP - 681
EP - 692
JO - Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology
JF - Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology
IS - 6
ER -