Summary
Thirty-four rats were killed by transcardial perfusion fixation 1 min after a contusing concussive head injury, and 17 rats 1 day later. From the results obtained with a new silver method demonstrating traumatically damaged neuronal somata, dendrites and axons the following conclusions were drawn: (1) outside the contused territories all features of traumatically induced neuronal argyrophilia are similar to those found in non-contusing concussive head injury, as reported in an accompanying paper; (2) within contused territories the neuronal argyrophilia is abolished by some substance released either from damaged blood vessels or from damaged parenchymal cells, while the neuronal damage otherwise underlying the induction of argyrophilia is present; (3) different phenotypes of neurons are vulnerable to different values of the parameters of the intracranial pressure wave generated by the trauma; (4) some of the neurons may recover from the traumatically induced argyrophilic damage; (5) traumatically induced inundation of neurons with extracellular tracers, as reported by other authors, and somato-dendritic argyrophilia may be different manifestations of one and the same phenomenon; and (6) diffuse primary traumatic axonal injury in human neuropathology may be closely correlated to axonal argyrophilia.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams JH, Mitchell DE, Graham DI, Doyle D (1977) Diffuse brain damage of immediate impact type. Brain 100:489–502
Adams JH, Graham DI, Gennarelli TA (1985) Contemporary neuropathological considerations regarding brain damage in head injury. In: Becker D, Povlishock JT (eds) Central nervous system trauma status report. Byrd Press, Richmond, pp 65–77
Blumbergs PC, Jones NR, North JB (1989) Diffuse axonal injury in head trauma. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 52:838–841
Erb DE, Povlishock JT (1988) Axonal damage in severe traumatic brain injury: an experimental study in cat. Acta Neuropathol 76:347–358
Gallyas F, Zoltay G (1992) An immediate light microscopic response of neuronal somata, dendrites and axons to noncontusing concussive head injury in the rat. Acta Neuropathol 83:386–393
Gallyas F, Güldner FH, Zoltay G, Wolff JR (1990) Golgi-like demonstration of “dark” neurons with an argyrophil III method for experimental neuropathology. Acta Neuropathol 79:620–628
Gallyas F, Zoltay G, Horváth Z (1992) Light microscopic response of neuronal somata, dendrites and axons to postmortem concussive head injury. Acta Neuropathol 83: (in press)
Griffiths JR, Miller R (1974) Vascular permeability to protein in vasogenic edema in experimental concussive injuries to the canine spinal cord. J Neurol Sci 22:291–304
Klatzo I, Maguel J, Ostenasek R (1962) The application of fluorescein labelled serum protein (FLSP) to the study of vascular permeability in the brain. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 2:144–160
Maxwell WL, Irvine A, Strang RHC, Graham DI, Adams JH, Gennarelli TA (1990) Glycogen accumulation in axons after stretch injury. J Neurocytol 19:235–241
Persson L, Hansson HA, Sourander P (1976) Extravasation, spread and cellular uptake of Evans blue-labelled albumin around a reproducible small stab wound in the rat brain. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 34:125–136
Povlishock JT (1979) The morphopathologic substrates of concussion. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 47:1–11
Povlishock JT (1985) The morphopathologic responses to experimental head injuries of varying severity. In: Becker D, Povlishock JT (eds) Central nervous system trauma status report. Byrd Press, Richmond, pp 443–452
Povlishock JT, Becker DP, Cheng CLY, Vaughan GW (1983) Axonal change in minor head injury. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 42:225–242
Rinder L, Olsson Y (1968) Studies on vascular permeability changes in experimental brain concussion. I. Distribution of circulating fluorescent indicators in brain and cervical cord after sudden mechanical loading of the brain. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 11:183–208
Strich SJ (1956) Diffuse degeneration of the cerebral white matter in severe dementia following head injury. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 19:163–185
van den Pol AN, Gallyas F (1990) Trauma induced Golgi-like staining of neurons: a new approach to neuronal organization and response to injury. J Comp Neurol 296:654–673
Vanegas H, Hollander H, Distel H (1978) Early stages of uptake and transport of horseradish peroxidase by cortical structures and its use for the study of local neurons and their processes. J Comp Neurol 177:193–212
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gallyas, F., Zoltay, G. & Balás, I. An immediate light microscopic response of neuronal somata, dendrites and axons to contusing concussive head injury in the rat. Acta Neuropathol 83, 394–401 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00713531
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00713531