scholarly journals CYTOLOGICAL STUDIES OF ORGANOTYPIC CULTURES OF RAT DORSAL ROOT GANGLIA FOLLOWING X-IRRADIATION IN VITRO

1967 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund B. Masurovsky ◽  
Mary Bartlett Bunge ◽  
Richard P. Bunge

Under suitable conditions rat dorsal root ganglia differentiate and myelinate in culture, providing an organotypic model of the ganglion (8). Mature cultures of this type were irradiated with a 40 kR dose of 184 kvp X-rays and, after daily observation in the living state, were fixed for light and electron microscopy. Within 24 hr after irradiation, numerous Schwann cells investing unmyelinated axons acutely degenerate. The axons thus denuded display little change. Conversely, few ultrastructural changes develop in Schwann cells investing myelinated axons until after the 4th day. During the 4–14 day period, these Schwann cells and their related myelin sheaths undergo progressive deterioration. Associated axons decrease in diameter but are usually maintained. Myelin deterioration begins as a nodal lengthening and then progresses along two different routes. In intact Schwann cells, fragmentation of myelin begins in a pattern reminiscent of Wallerian degeneration, but its slow breakdown thereafter suggests metabolic disturbances in these Schwann cells. The second pattern of myelin deterioration, occurring after complete degeneration of the related Schwann cell, involves unusual configurational changes in the myelin lamellae. Atypical repeating periods are formed by systematic splitting of lamellae at each major dense line with further splitting at the intraperiod line (Type I) or by splitting in the region of every other intraperiod line (Type II); some sheaths display a compact, wavy, inner zone and an abnormally widened lamellar spacing peripherally (Type III). Extensive blebbing of myelin remnants characterizes the final stages of this extracellular myelin degradation. These observations provide the first description of ultrastructural changes produced by ionizing radiation in nerve fascicles in vitro.

1967 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund B. Masurovsky ◽  
Mary Bartlett Bunge ◽  
Richard P. Bunge

Long-term organotypic cultures of rat dorsal root ganglia were exposed to a single 40 kR dose of 184 kvp X-rays and studied in the living and fixed states by light or electron microscopy at 1–14 day intervals thereafter. Within the first 4 days following irradiation, over 30% of the neurons display chromatolytic reactions (eccentric nuclei, peripheral dispersal of Nissl substance, central granular zone) as well as abnormal nucleolar changes and dissociation of ribosomes from endoplasmic reticulum cisternae. Some satellite cells undergo retraction or acute degeneration, leaving only basement membrane to cover the neuron in these areas. 8 days after irradiation, neurons also exhibit (a) areas in which ribosomes are substantially reduced, (b) regions of cytoplasmic sequestration, (c) extensive vacuolization of granular endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complex, and (d) diversely altered mitochondria (including the presence of ribosome-like particles or association with abnormal glycogen and lipid deposits). Nucleolar components become altered or reoriented and may form abnormal projections and ringlike configurations. Sizeable areas of the neuronal soma are now denuded of satellite cells; underlying these areas, nerve processes are found abnormally invaginated into the neuronal cytoplasm. By the 14th day following irradiation, most neurons display marked degenerative changes including extensive regions of ribosome depletion, sequestration, vacuolization, autolysis, and, in some areas, swirls of filaments, myelin figures, and heterogeneous dense bodies. These observations demonstrate that X-irradiation produces profound cytopathological changes in nervous tissue isolated from the host and that many of these changes resemble the effects of radiation on nervous tissue in vivo.


1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-309
Author(s):  
Václav Mandys ◽  
Katerina Jirsová ◽  
Jirí Vrana

The neurotoxic effects of seven selected Multicenter Evaluation of In Vitro Cytotoxicity programme chemicals (methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, iron [II] sulphate and chloroform) were evaluated in organotypic cultures of chick embryonic dorsal root ganglia (DRG), maintained in a soft agar culture medium. Two growth parameters of neurite outgrowth from the ganglia — the mean radial length of neurites and the area of neurite outgrowth — were used to evaluate the toxicities of the chemicals. Dose-dependent decreases of both parameters were observed in all experiments. IC50 values (the concentration causing 50% inhibition of growth) were calculated from the dose-response curves established at three time-points during culture, i.e. 24, 48 and 72 hours. The lowest toxic effect was observed in cultures exposed to methanol (the IC50 ranging from 580mM to 1020mM). The highest toxic effect was observed in cultures exposed to iron (II) sulphate (the IC50 ranging from 1.2mM to 1.7mM). The results of other recent experiments suggest that organotypic cultures of DRG can be used during in vitro studies on target organ toxicity within the peripheral nervous system. Moreover, these cultures preserve the internal organisation of the tissue, maintain intercellular contacts, and thus reflect the in vitro situation, more precisely than other cell cultures.


1994 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
pp. 459-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Br�ck ◽  
Y. Br�ck ◽  
U. Diederich ◽  
R. L. Friede

Development ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Boisseau ◽  
J. Nedelec ◽  
V. Poirier ◽  
G. Rougon ◽  
M. Simonneau

Using a monoclonal antibody that recognizes specifically a high polysialylated form of N-CAM (high PSA N-CAM), the temporal and spatial expression of this molecule was studied in developing spinal cord and neural crest derivatives of mouse truncal region. Temporal expression was analyzed on immunoblots of spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) extracts microdissected at different developmental stages. Analysis of the ratio of high PSA N-CAM to total N-CAM indicated that sialylation and desialylation are independently regulated from the expression of polypeptide chains of N-CAM. Motoneurons, dorsal root ganglia cells and commissural neurons present a homogeneous distribution of high PSA N-CAMs on both their cell bodies and their neurites. Sialylation of N-CAM can occur in neurons after their aggregation in peripheral ganglia as demonstrated for dorsal root ganglia at E12. Furthermore, peripheral ganglia express different levels of high PSA N-CAM. With in vitro models using mouse neural crest cells, we found that expression of high PSA N-CAM was restricted to cells presenting an early neuronal phenotype, suggesting a common regulation for the expression of high PSA N-CAM molecules, neurofilament proteins and sodium channels. Using perturbation experiments with endoneuraminidase, we confirmed that high PSA N-CAM molecules are involved in fasciculation and neuritic growth when neurons derived from neural crest grow on collagen substrata. However, we demonstrated that these two parameters do not appear to depend on high PSA N-CAM molecules when cells were grown on a fibronectin substratum, indicating the existence of a hierarchy among adhesion molecules.


IBRO Reports ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. S124
Author(s):  
Woon-Hae Kim ◽  
Hyun-Gyu Kang ◽  
Taehoon H. Kim ◽  
Yoon Jeong Mo ◽  
Yu Seon Kim ◽  
...  

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