ABSTRACT
The V and VII cranial nerves of rats inoculated with rabies virus were studied by electron microscopy. The results were compared with the same cranial nerves of rats inoculated with rabies virus but vaccinated against the disease. The findings are those of axonal degeneration and intense demyelination of the nerves of the group of rats not vaccinated. The vaccinated rats showed some ultrastructural irrelevant alterations when compared with the other group. The degreee of ultrastructural alterations found in the group of rats not vaccinated suggests that in rabies severe damage of the cranial nerves occurs and that this may be closely related to the clinical picture of the disease (hydrophobia). Furthermore, as far as the authors know, this has not been considered in the classic descriptions of rabies and it is possible that an immunologic process may take part in the demyelination observed in the present study.
Subject(s)
Male , Animals , Rats , Facial Nerve/ultrastructure , Rabies virus/immunology , Rabies/immunology , Trigeminal Nerve/ultrastructure , Axons/ultrastructure , Facial Nerve/virology , Fluorescent Antibody Technique , Myelin Sheath/ultrastructure , Rabies virus/ultrastructure , Rabies/pathology , Rats, Wistar , Trigeminal Nerve/virologyABSTRACT
Os autores estudaram por microscopia eletrônica células mononucleares e granulócitos obtidos do sangue de 10 pacientes com distrofia muscular de Duchenne. Embora vários estudos tenham demonstrado alteraçöes bioquímicas e imunológicas nessas células do sangue, näo foram encontradas alteraçöes ultraestructurais neste estudo