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Observations on the effect of hypotonic solutions on the myelin sheath in the central nervous system

1976; Elsevier BV; Volume: 100; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0022-2836(76)80149-0

1089-8638

Thomas J. McIntosh, J. David Robertson,

Alzheimer's disease research and treatments

When soaked in hypotonic solutions, the myelin sheath of rat optic nerve expands. However, the optic nerve myelin swells in a different manner than the myelin of sciatic or other peripheral nervous system nerves. While peripheral nerve myelin expands in units containing pairs of membranes, the predominant swelling unit of optic nerve myelin contains four membranes. Electron micrographs indicate that the optic nerve myelin expands primarily at alternate intraperiod lines. The lamellae do not swell apart around the entire circumference of the sheath and radially oriented membrane specializations are observed in the discrete areas where the lamellae remain compacted.