CHANGES AT NODES OF RANVIER DURING WALLERIAN DEGENERATION - AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDY

Observations are reported on the ultrastructural alterations at the nodes of Ranvier in the rat sural nerve during the course of Wallerian degeneration. These were examined between 12 and 120 hours after a localized crush injury. The earliest detectable changes are in the axon. Nodal and paranodal accumulations of mitochondria, multivesicular bodies, lamellar bodies and small vesicular and tubular profiles are seen at a proportion of the nodes and are most evident at 24-36 hours. Concomitantly with this, the neurofilaments and neurotubulus fragment, lose their alignment and clump together. The zone of increased density just beneath the nodal axolemma is preserved. Changes in the myelin begin slightly later and consist of vesicular breakdown of the terminal myelin lamellae, and separation of the terminal myelin loops from the axolemma by Schwann cell processes. The latter event appeared to be associated with retraction of the myelin from the node. Schwann cell processes also extend to cover the nodal axon, separating the Schwann cell nodal processes from the axolemma. The final stage is the interruption of the nodal axon and the fusion of the ends of the myelin as part of ovoid formation. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.