ABSTRACT
Postnatal development of dendritic spines (DS) on the 500-microns-proximal region of the apical dendrite of large layer V pyramidal neurons of the somatosensory cortex (Par 1) was studied with the rapid Golgi method in micrencephalic rats produced after exposure to 100 cGy X-irradiation at embryonic day 18. Treated rats examined at the age of 15 days had more DS than age-matched controls, whereas the reverse occurred in rats aged 30 days. After this time the number of DS decreased in normal rats. As a result, irradiated and control rats aged 90 days had about the same number of DS in the proximal region of the apical dendrite. These results suggest that development of DS appears early, and that natural overproduction and elimination of DS is impaired in the cerebral cortex of micrencephalic rats.
Subject(s)
Abnormalities, Radiation-Induced/physiopathology , Brain/radiation effects , Cerebral Cortex/radiation effects , Dendrites/ultrastructure , Abnormalities, Radiation-Induced/pathology , Aging , Animals , Brain/embryology , Brain/growth & development , Cerebral Cortex/embryology , Dendrites/radiation effects , Neurons/pathology , Neurons/radiation effects , Organ Size/radiation effects , Rats , Somatosensory Cortex/growth & development , Somatosensory Cortex/radiation effects , X-RaysABSTRACT
Urea cycle enzymopathies are rare in the literature. They are accompanied by neurological disorders somehow related to the increase in blood ammonia. Reviewing the possible physiopathological course we present a case in which during an eight month period severe cerebral atrophy developed, more intense in the occipital region but totally sparing the posterior cranial fossa structures.
Subject(s)
Ammonia/blood , Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase Deficiency Disease , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Atrophy , Cerebral Cortex/diagnostic imaging , Cerebral Cortex/enzymology , Cerebral Cortex/pathology , Female , Humans , Infant , Intellectual Disability/blood , Intellectual Disability/enzymology , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Shortly after the March 28, 1979, accident at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant outside Harrisburg, Pa., the Pennsylvania Department of Health, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Bureau of the Census, conducted a census of the 35,930 persons residing within 5 miles of the plant. With the help of 150 enumerators, demographic and health-related information was collected on each person to provide baseline data for future short- and long-term epidemiologic studies of the effects of the accident. Individual radiation doses were estimated on the basis of residential location and the amount of time each person spent in the 5-mile area during the 10 days after the accident. Health and behavioral resurveys of the population will be conducted approximately every 5 years. Population-mobility, morbidity, and mortality will be studied yearly by matching the TMI Population Registry with postal records, cancer registry records, and death certificate data. Because the radiation dose from TMI was extremely small, any increase in morbidity or mortality attributable to the accident would be so small as not to be measurable by present methods; however, adverse health effects as a result of psychological stress may occur. Also, a temporary increase in reporting of disease could occur because of increased surveillance and attention to health.
Subject(s)
Accidents , Nuclear Reactors , Population Surveillance , Registries , Health Surveys , Humans , Methods , Pennsylvania , Radiation Dosage , Stress, PsychologicalABSTRACT
The morphological characteristics of neurons revealed by Golgi's method are reported in a case of cerebral ganglioglioma. Spindle-shaped (leptodendritic) neurons and radiated type I neurons form the bulk of this tumour. According to Ramon-Moliner (1968) isodendritic neurons (both leptodendritic and radiate type I) are philogenetically primitive cells and differ greatly from those observed in most of the deep cerebral nuclei of the mammalian's brain.
