DEGENERATION OF GANGLION CELL FOLLOWING AXONAL INJURY

Abstract

Degeneration of the ganglion cell invariably follows serious injury to the axon. In order to determine the progress and end-results of such degeneration, the present study was carried out. Degenerative changes in a nerve cell, following injury to its axon, were described by Nissl¹ in 1892. In tissues fixed with alcohol and stained by a methylene blue (methylthionine chloride, U. S. P.) and soap method, definite alterations were found within the nerve cells of the facial nucleus as early as twenty-four hours after evulsion of the facial nerve. These changes were manifested in progressive disintegration of the chromatin material in the cytoplasm (Nissl bodies) and in migration of the nucleus to the periphery of the cell. This process was designated as chromatolysis. Nissl believed that the majority of cells slowly recovered, and that, after fifty or sixty days, such cells could be distinguished from normal cells only with