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The anterolateral funiculus in the spinal cord in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

AbstractWe carried out a morphometric study on the myelinated fibers in the anterolateral funiculus (ALF) and lateral corticospinal tract (LCS) in the cervical segment of the spinal cord of 13 patients with classic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), 6 of whom had been on a respirator; 5 age-matched subjects were used as controls. The results obtained revealed that: (1) the fiber-size distributions of the myelinated fibers in the ALF and LCS of the control subjects had peaks at 2 microns; (2) there were marked and significant losses of large myelinated fibers in the ALF and LCS of ALS patients; (3) the patients who required respirator support showed more severe degeneration in the ALF than those who required none; and (4) the degree of myelinated fiber loss in the LCS did not correlate with either the illness duration or the history of respirator use.
AuthorsK Oyanagi, T Makifuchi, F Ikuta (Affiliation: Brain Disease Research Center, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, Japan.)
JournalActa neuropathologica (Acta Neuropathol) Vol. 90 Issue 3 Pg. 221-7 ( 1995) ISSN: 0001-6322 GERMANY
PMID8525794 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
Chemical References
  • Myelin Proteins
Topics
  • Aged
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (diagnosis, pathology)
  • Cell Count
  • Cell Death
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Myelin Proteins (ultrastructure)
  • Spinal Cord (pathology)