The Experimental Production of General Paralysis

1909 ◽  
Vol 55 (231) ◽  
pp. 631-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Ford Robertson

Six years ago Dr. Shennan and I recorded the observations that rats which had been fed with cultures of a threading diphtheroid bacillus, isolated from the bronchus of a general paralytic, developed symptoms of paresis, which tended to go on to a fatal termination, and that the tissues of the animals showed changes resembling those that are found in cases of early general paralysis. In all of four animals in which the experiment was fully carried out the brain showed periarteritis, neuroglia proliferation and severe nerve-cell lesions. Two years ago Dr. McRae and I recorded some further experimental observations upon the effects of feeding rats with various strains of diphtheroid bacilli. A diphtheroid bacillus, which formed acid in glucose and saccharose test broths, and which was virulent to mice (Bacillus paralyticans brevis), produced very striking results in twelve animals. They developed acute or chronic forms of general paresis which went on to a fatal termination. The most marked lesions found after death were those affecting the nerve-cells of the spinal cord and brain, but in several of the animals there were also distinct periarteritis and neuroglia hypertrophy. Similar experiments with several other strains of diphtheroid bacilli, which could be classed as one or other of the two forms to which we have attached special importance, gave much less definite results. Some of the animals have not yet, however, been examined microscopically. Control animals fed with other organisms gave quite negative results. These experiments have at least shown that diphtheroid bacilli isolated from cases of general paralysis may occasionally have sufficient virulence to determine in rats, by infection through the alimentary tract, a disease in which the chief symptoms are those affecting the nervous system, and in which the tissue changes have a certain resemblance to those found in general paralysis.

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
James B. Talmage ◽  
Jay Blaisdell

Abstract Injuries that affect the central nervous system (CNS) can be catastrophic because they involve the brain or spinal cord, and determining the underlying clinical cause of impairment is essential in using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides), in part because the AMA Guides addresses neurological impairment in several chapters. Unlike the musculoskeletal chapters, Chapter 13, The Central and Peripheral Nervous System, does not use grades, grade modifiers, and a net adjustment formula; rather the chapter uses an approach that is similar to that in prior editions of the AMA Guides. The following steps can be used to perform a CNS rating: 1) evaluate all four major categories of cerebral impairment, and choose the one that is most severe; 2) rate the single most severe cerebral impairment of the four major categories; 3) rate all other impairments that are due to neurogenic problems; and 4) combine the rating of the single most severe category of cerebral impairment with the ratings of all other impairments. Because some neurological dysfunctions are rated elsewhere in the AMA Guides, Sixth Edition, the evaluator may consult Table 13-1 to verify the appropriate chapter to use.


1908 ◽  
Vol 54 (226) ◽  
pp. 560-561
Author(s):  
David Orr ◽  
R. G. Rows

At a quarterly meeting of this Association held last year at Nottingham, we showed the results of our experiments with toxins upon the spinal cord and brain of rabbits. Our main conclusion was, that the central nervous system could be infected by toxins passing up along the lymph channels of the perineural sheath. The method we employed in our experiments consisted in placing a celloidin capsule filled with a broth culture of an organism under the sciatic nerve or under the skin of the cheek; and we invariably found a resulting degeneration in the spinal cord or brain, according to the situation of the capsule. These lesions we found to be identical in morphological type and anatomical distribution with those found in the cord of early tabes dorsalis and in the brain and cord of general paralysis of the insane. The conclusion suggested by our work was that these two diseases, if toxic, were most probably infections of lymphogenous origin.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1958 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 871-872
Author(s):  
ERIC DENHOFF

This monograph summarizes the results of the Conference on Neurological Disability as a National Problem held at Arden House, Harriman, New York, in December, 1955. It was attended by more than 50 highly qualified specialists with various interests in the field who met to explore the realistic possibilities of meeting the problems posed by more than 10 million patients suffering from more than 300 clinical entities loosely grouped together as "neurologic disabilities." Neurologic disabilities are defined as those disorders which are associated demonstrably with dysfunction, disease, or injury of the nervous system, the brain, the spinal cord, and the peripheral neuromuscular connections.


Neurosurgery describes the surgical treatment and management of various disease processes that target the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system. The specialty is wide and varied as increasing numbers of neurological conditions can now be improved following neurosurgery; for example, some types of epilepsy respond to the insertion of a vagal nerve stimulator, Parkinson’s disease symptoms can be diminished with a deep brain stimulator, and intractable back pain may be improved following spinal surgery. Practitioners must be equipped with the knowledge and skills to care for these patients and meet their immediate and long-term needs.


Author(s):  
J. Eric Ahlskog

As a prelude to the treatment chapters that follow, we need to define and describe the types of problems and symptoms encountered in DLB and PDD. The clinical picture can be quite varied: problems encountered by one person may be quite different from those encountered by another person, and symptoms that are problematic in one individual may be minimal in another. In these disorders, the Lewy neurodegenerative process potentially affects certain nervous system regions but spares others. Affected areas include thinking and memory circuits, as well as movement (motor) function and the autonomic nervous system, which regulates primary functions such as bladder, bowel, and blood pressure control. Many other brain regions, by contrast, are spared or minimally involved, such as vision and sensation. The brain and spinal cord constitute the central nervous system. The interface between the brain and spinal cord is by way of the brain stem, as shown in Figure 4.1. Thought, memory, and reasoning are primarily organized in the thick layers of cortex overlying lower brain levels. Volitional movements, such as writing, throwing, or kicking, also emanate from the cortex and integrate with circuits just below, including those in the basal ganglia, shown in Figure 4.2. The basal ganglia includes the striatum, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, and substantia nigra, as illustrated in Figure 4.2. Movement information is integrated and modulated in these basal ganglia nuclei and then transmitted down the brain stem to the spinal cord. At spinal cord levels the correct sequence of muscle activation that has been programmed is accomplished. Activated nerves from appropriate regions of the spinal cord relay the signals to the proper muscles. Sensory information from the periphery (limbs) travels in the opposite direction. How are these signals transmitted? Brain cells called neurons have long, wire-like extensions that interface with other neurons, effectively making up circuits that are slightly similar to computer circuits; this is illustrated in Figure 4.3. At the end of these wire-like extensions are tiny enlargements (terminals) that contain specific biological chemicals called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are released when the electrical signal travels down that neuron to the end of that wire-like process.


Author(s):  
Karl Zilles ◽  
Nicola Palomero-Gallagher

The pre- and post-natal development of the human nervous system is briefly described, with special emphasis on the brain, particularly the cerebral and cerebellar cortices. The central nervous system originates from a specialized region of the ectoderm—the neural plate—which develops into the neural tube. The rostral part of the neural tube forms the adult brain, whereas the caudal part (behind the fifth somite) differentiates into the spinal cord. The embryonic brain has three vesicular enlargements: the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain. The histogenesis of the spinal cord, hindbrain, cerebellum, and cerebral cortex, including myelination, is discussed. The chapter closes with a description of the development of the hemispheric shape and the formation of gyri.


1875 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 136-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. D. Handyside

The author showed to the Society a small entire specimen of the P. gladius, and next described, from a larger opened and dissected one, and from part of an adult fish, the spinal cord, the brain, the organs of the senses, and other parts of its nervous system. He illustrated his remarks by exhibiting four large drawings and nine smaller ones, including six microscopic views, explanatory of his description of the structure and disposition of the spino-cerebral axis, the encephalon as viewed from above and below, the ramifications of the encephalic nerves, and more particularly the structures subserving the senses of smell, sight, and hearing.


1963 ◽  
Vol 204 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morris J. Mandel ◽  
Francesco Arcidiacono ◽  
Leo A. Sapirstein

Rb86 and Iodo131 antipyrine were injected together by vein in rats. The brain, spinal cord, and nerve contents of each label were measured 30 or 60 sec later. Iodoantipyrine values were used to calculate blood flow to these portions of the nervous system. The ratio of Rb86 to iodoantipyrine uptake was used as an index of the efficacy of the hematoneural barrier. The barrier is most complete in the brain, less complete in the spinal cord, and absent in peripheral nerve. Blood flow values per gram are: brain .41 ml/g min; cord .28 ml/g min, and nerve .11 ml/g min. It is suggested that the blood-brain barrier is an anatomical entity rather than a functional one.


Author(s):  
Peggy Mason

The central nervous system develops from a proliferating tube of cells and retains a tubular organization in the adult spinal cord and brain, including the forebrain. Failure of the neural tube to close at the front is lethal, whereas failure to close the tube at the back end produces spina bifida, a serious neural tube defect. Swellings in the neural tube develop into the hindbrain, midbrain, diencephalon, and telencephalon. The diencephalon sends an outpouching out of the cranium to form the retina, providing an accessible window onto the brain. The dorsal telencephalon forms the cerebral cortex, which in humans is enormously expanded by growth in every direction. Running through the embryonic neural tube is an internal lumen that becomes the cerebrospinal fluid–containing ventricular system. The effects of damage to the spinal cord and forebrain are compared with respect to impact on self and potential for improvement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark T. Butt

Many preclinical investigations limit the evaluation of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) to paraffin-embedded sections/hematoxylin and eosin–stained sections of the sciatic nerve. This limitation ignores several key mechanisms of toxicity and anatomic differences that may interfere with an accurate assessment of test article effects on the neurons/neurites peripheral to the brain and spinal cord. Ganglion neurons may be exposed to higher concentrations of the test article as compared to neurons in the brain or spinal cord due to differences in capillary permeability. Many peripheral neuropathies are length-dependent, meaning distal nerves may show morphological changes before they are evident in the mid-sciatic nerve. Paraffin-embedded nerves are not optimal to assess myelin changes, notably those leading to demyelination. Differentiating between axonal or myelin degeneration may not be possible from the examination of paraffin-embedded sections. A sampling strategy more consistent with known mechanisms of toxicity, atraumatic harvest of tissues, optimized fixation, and the use of resin and paraffin-embedded sections will greatly enhance the pathologist’s ability to observe and characterize effects in the PNS.


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