Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-26T08:58:41.335Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Determining Direction of Axonal Flow in the Equine Ramus Communicans by Ultrastructural Examination of the Plantar Nerves 2 Months after Transecting the Ramus

Part of: Micrographia Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2018

Fakhri Al-Bagdadi ,
Jim Schumacher ,
Jessi Carter ,
Ferenc Tóth  and
Robert W. Henry
Fakhri Al-Bagdadi*
Affiliation:
Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
Jim Schumacher
Affiliation:
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Jessi Carter
Affiliation:
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Ferenc Tóth
Affiliation:
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Robert W. Henry
Affiliation:
College of Veterinary Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN 37752, USA College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Fakhri Al-Bagdadi, E-mail: falbag1@lsu.edu
Get access

Abstract

The ramus communicans, neural connection between medial and lateral plantar nerves of the horse, was transected to determine the degree to which medial and lateral plantar nerves contribute to the plantar ramus. After 2 months, sections of plantar nerves immediately proximal and distal to the communicating branch were collected and processed for electron microscopy. All examined nerves had undergone Wallerian degeneration and contained regenerating and mature fibers. Layers of the myelin sheath were separated by spaces and vacuoles, indicating demyelination of medial and lateral plantar nerves. Shrunken axons varied in diameter and were surrounded by an irregular axolemma. Shrunken axoplasm of both myelinated and non-myelinated fibers contained ruptured mitochondria and cristae, disintegrating cytoskeleton, and vacuoles of various sizes. The cytoplasm of neurolemmocytes contained various-sized vesicles, ruptured mitochondria within a fragile basal lamina and myelin whorls of multilayered structures indicative of Wallerian degeneration. These ultrastructural changes, found proximal and distal to the ramus in medial and lateral plantar nerves, suggest that axonal flow is bi-directional through the ramus communicans of the pelvic limbs of horses, a previously unreported finding. As well, maturity of nerves proximal and distal to the ramus indicates that all nerve fibers do not pass through the ramus.

Keywords

degenerationregenerationequineplantar nerveramus communicans
Type
Micrographia
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , pp. 64 - 68
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bartus, K, Galino, J, Nicholas, DJ, Hernandez-Miranda, LR, Dawes, JM, Fricker, FR, Garratt, AN, McMahon, SB, Ramer, MS, Brichmeier, C, Bennett, DLH and Bradbury, EJ (2016) Neuregulin-1 controls an endogenous repair mechanism after spinal cord injury. Brain 139, 1394–1416.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bischoff, A (1973) Ultrastructural pathology of the peripheral nervous system. Z Neurol 205, 257–274.Google ScholarPubMed
Bowley, MP, Cabral, H, Rosene, DL and Peters, A (2010) Age changes in myelinated nerve fibers of the cingulate bundle and corpus callosum in the rhesus monkey. J Comp Neurol 518, 3046–3064.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bremer, J, Bremer, J, Bauman, F, Tiberi, C, Wessig, C, Fischer, H, Schwarz, P, Steele, AD, Toyka, K, Nave, K, Weis, J and Aquzzi, A (2010) Axonal prion protein is required for peripheral myelin maintenance. Nat Neurosci 13, 310–318.Google Scholar
Britland, ST, Young, RJ, Sharma, AK and Clarke, BF (1990) Association of painful and painless diabetic polyneuropathy with different patterns of nerve fiber degeneration and regeneration. Diabetes 39, 898–908.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carbonell, AL, Boya, J, Calvo, JL and Marin, JF (1991) Ultrastructural study of the neuroglial and macrophagic reaction in Wallerian degeneration of the adult rat optic nerve. Histol Histopathol 6, 443–451.Google ScholarPubMed
Dyck, PJ and Hopkins, AP (1972) Electron microscopic observations on degeneration and regeneration of unmyelinated fibres. Brain 95, 223–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fancy, SP, Chan, JR, Baranzini, SE, Franklin, RJ and Rowitch, DH (2011) Myelin regeneration: a recapitulation of development? Ann Rev Neurosci 34, 21–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feldman, ML and Peters, A (1998) Ballooning of myelin sheaths in normally aged macaques. J Neurocytol 27, 605–614.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fricker, FR, Antunes-Martins, A, Galino, J, Paramosthy, R, LaRussa, F, Perkins, J, Goldberg, R, Brelstaff, J, Zhu, N, McMahon, SB, Orengo, C, Garratt, AN, Birchmeier, C and Bennett, DLH (2013) Axonal neuregulin 1 is a rate limiting but not essential factor for nerve remyelination. Brain 13, 2279–2297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gledhill, RF and McDonald, WI (1977) Morphological characteristics of central demyelination and remyelination: a single-fiber study. Ann Neurol 1, 552–560.Google Scholar
Henry, R (1979) Peripheral nerve conduction velocity and ultrastructure in the equine thoracic limb. Dissertation, College of Veterinary Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.Google Scholar
Hirano, A (1989) Review of the morphological aspects of remyelination. Dev Neurosci 11, 112–117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khan, AA (2004) Wallerian degeneration in the optic nerve of the rabbit. Cells Tissues Organs 177, 104–109.Google Scholar
King, RH, Llewelyn, JG, Thomas, PK, Gilbey, SG and Watkins, PJ (1989) Diabetic neuropathy: Abnormalities of Schwann cell and perineurial basal laminae. Implications for diabetic vasculopathy. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 15, 339–355.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Llewelyn, JG, Gilbey, SG, Thomas, PK, King, RH, Muddle, JR and Watkins, PJ (1991) Sural nerve morphometry in diabetic autonomic and painful sensory neuropathy. A clinicopathological study. Brain 114(Pt 2), 867–892.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ludwin, SK (1978) Central nervous system demyelination and remyelination in the mouse: An ultrastructural study of cuprizone toxicity. Lab Invest 39, 597–612.Google ScholarPubMed
Ludwin, SK (1981) Pathology of demyelination and remyelination. Adv Neurol 31, 123–168.Google ScholarPubMed
Malik, RA, Veves, A, Walker, D, Siddique, I, Lye, RH, Schady, W and Boulton, AJ (2001) Sural nerve fibre pathology in diabetic patients with mild neuropathy: Relationship to pain, quantitative sensory testing and peripheral nerve electrophysiology. Acta Neuropathol 101, 367–374.Google Scholar
Mizisin, AP, Nelson, RW, Sturges, BK, Vernau, KM, Lecouteur, RA, Williams, DC, Burgers, ML and Shelton, GD (2007) Comparable myelinated nerve pathology in feline and human diabetes mellitus. Acta Neuropathol 113, 431–442.Google Scholar
Morris, JH, Hudson, AR and Weddell, G (1972) A study of degeneration and regeneration in the divided rat Sciatic nerve, based on electron microscopy. Z Zellforsch 124, 76–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, A, Moss, MB and Sethares, C (2000) Effects of aging on myelinated nerve fibers in monkey primary visual cortex. J Comp Neurol 419, 364–376.Google Scholar
Robertson, JD (1960) The molecular structure and contact relationships of cell membranes. Prog Biophys Biophys Chem 10, 344–408.Google ScholarPubMed
Rosenbluth, J (1966) Redundant myelin sheaths and other ultrastructural features of the toad cerebellum. J Cell Biol 28, 73–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saggu, SK, Chotaliya, HP, Blumbergs, PC and Casson, RJ (2010) Wallerian-like axonal degeneration in the optic nerve after excitotoxic retinal insult: An ultrastructural study. BMC Neurosci 11, 97.Google Scholar
Sandell, JH and Peters, A (2001) Effects of age on nerve fibers in the rhesus monkey optic nerve. J Comp Neurol 429, 541–553.3.0.CO;2-5>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sargon, MF, Denk, CC, Celik, HH, Surucu, HS and Aldur, MM (2007) Electron microscopic examination of the myelinated axons of corpus callosum in perfused young and old rats. Int J Neurosci 117, 999–1010.Google Scholar
Schumacher, J, Schumacher, J, Schramme, M and Moyer, W (2014) Review of mistakes that can be made when interpreting the results of diagnostic analgesia during a lameness examination. Lameness Examination and Therapy. AAEP Proc 60, 83–94.Google Scholar
Sturrock, RR (1976) Changes in neurologia and myelination in the white matter of aging mice. J Gerontol 31, 513–522.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sullivan, KA, Brown, MS, Harmon, L and Greene, DA (2003) Digital electron microscopic examination of human sural nerve biopsies. J Peripher Nerv Syst 8, 260–270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed