Glial hyaluronate-binding protein in Wallerian degeneration of dog spinal cord

✍ Scribed by Amico Bignami; Hussein Mansour; Doris Dahl

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 745 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-1491
• DOI: 10.1002/glia.440020511

✦ Synopsis

Wallerian degeneration of spinal cord dorsal columns was produced in three dogs by unilateral extradural dorsal rhizotomy at the lower thoracic level. The spinal cord was studied 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months after surgery. Transverse cryostat sections at the site of rhizotomy and at the mid-thoracic level were stained by indirect immunofluorescence with antibodies to the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and to the glial hyaluronate-binding protein (GHAP). GHAP immunoreactivity was almost unchanged in the degenerated dorsal column 1 month after rhizotomy. After 2 and 3 months, staining with GHAP antibodies was markedly decreased in the gliosed dorsal column at the site of rhizotomy, but it still persisted at the mid-thoracic level. It is concluded that GHAP persists for long periods of time in dorsal columns undergoing Wallerian degeneration, a finding consistent with its putative role as a nonpermissive substrate preventing nerve regeneration in CNS white matter.