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Nerve cell injury in the brain of stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats

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Summary

The brain lesions in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) are characterized by multifocal microvascular and spongy-cystic parenchymal alterations particularly in the gray matter. An essential feature of the lesions is the presence of edema with massive extravasation of plasma constituents as evidenced by specific gravity measurements, Evans blue technique and immunohistochemistry. The nerve cell injury occurring in the brain lesions in SHRSP is further characterized by light and electron microscopy in the present study. Two types of neuronal changes were seen within the blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage sites. A small number of neurons with dark condensed nucleus and cytoplasm were found most often at the periphery of recent lesions. The majority of injured neurons were pale and showed intracellular edema confined to the dendrites and perikarya sparing axons and synapses. Their nuclei were weli preserved with finely dispersed chromatin. The swollen and watery cell processes of neurons and astrocytes gave a spongy appearance to the neuropil. The intracellular edema seemed to result in cytolysis. The results suggest that primary anoxiaischemia is not the major pathogenetic mechanism behind the nerve cell injury in severely hypertensive SHRSP, rather it is the massive BBB leakage and consequent brain edema that causes cytolytic destruction of neurons. Secondary focal ischemia as a consequence of occlusion in microvessels may, however, contribute to the nerve cell destruction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University Hospital, S-221 85, Lund, Sweden

    K. Fredriksson & B. B. Johansson

  2. Laboratory of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology I, University of Gothenburg, S-413 45, Gothenburg, Sweden

    H. Kalimo & C. Nordborg

  3. Laboratory of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology, University of Turku, SF-20520, Turku, Finland

    H. Kalimo

  4. Laboratory of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology, University of Uppsala, S-75185, Uppsala, Sweden

    Y. Olsson

Authors
  1. K. Fredriksson
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  2. H. Kalimo
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  3. C. Nordborg
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  4. B. B. Johansson
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  5. Y. Olsson
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Additional information

Supported by the Swedish Medical Research Council (Projects 12P-6827, 14X-4968, 12X-6238, 12X-7123 and 12X-3020), the Swedish National Association against Heart and Chest Diseases, the Medical Faculty, University of Lund, the MS-fund, Elsa Schmitz' Fund for Neurological and Neurosurgical Research and the Finnish Medical Research Council

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Fredriksson, K., Kalimo, H., Nordborg, C. et al. Nerve cell injury in the brain of stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats. Acta Neuropathol 76, 227–237 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687769

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687769

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