EFFECTS ON THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM 205 



normal nucleus, with finely granular cytoplasm enclosing a yellow oil droplet. 

 The greater part of the cell body is occupied by a large vacuole, containing a 

 lymph-like fluid. 



Changes found by Lodato ('98) in the retinal ganglion- cells of fasting dogs 

 will be mentioned in Chapter XIII, in connection with the eyeball. 



In starved rabbits, cats and dogs, Peri ('93) made a careful study of the 

 sciatic nerve and concluded: 



"Dans le systeme nerveux peripherique, les alterations sont generalement 

 atrophiques. La myeline est diminuee, specialement chez les animaux qui 

 resterent longtemps a jeun. Aucune alteration dans la constitution de cette 

 substance. Le cylindreaxe ne differe en rien du cylindreaxe normal. Toutes 

 les preparations, faites avec les differentes methodes, sur les nerfs peripheriques, 

 servent uniquement a confirmer les diminutions de la myeline." 



Findlay ('21) found the sciatic nerve degeneration much less marked in starva- 

 tion than in avian beriberi. 



Merzbacher ('03) found that section of the peripheral nerves in hibernating 

 bats causes little or no degeneration, but the degenerative process is more 

 rapid in the animals artificially warmed and awakened. Similar phenomena 

 were observed in hibernating frogs. Hibernating mammals temporarily 

 resemble the cold-blooded animals in their reactions, 



Sokoloff ('76) discovered that in fasting summer frogs the nerve endings in 

 muscle (studied chiefly by the gold method) are apparently not much affected 

 and, show up clearly among the degenerated muscle fibers. The "muscle 

 corpuscles" and "nerve end buds" appear hypertrophic and hyperplastic. 



In the sympathetic system, Isaew ('87) studied the intestinal ganglia (plexuses 

 of Auerbach and Meissner) in starved dogs. The ganglion cells were rarely 

 found cloudy and swollen; oftener granular and vacuolated. The nuclei are 

 sometimes well preserved, sometimes degenerated. The nerve fibers also appear 

 cloudy, and. the interstitial tissue infiltrated with round cells. Statkewitsch 

 ('94) found a marked cytoplasmic vacuolation, less frequently a fatty degenera- 

 tion, in the cardiac ganglia of a starved cat. 



Uspenski ('96) described the changes in various peripheral ganglia (nodosum, 

 superior cervical sympathetic, celiac and cardiac) of rabbits fasting with loss 

 in body weight of 15.3 to 45 per cent. After osmic fixation, two cell types are 

 found, dark and light. The dark cells are smaller and most affected. The 

 celiac ganglia show the greatest changes; the cardiac ganglia present the least. 

 The cytoplasm undergoes a variable degree of vacuolation and hyalin degenera- 

 tion. The nucleus may also degenerate, becoming hypochromatic or pycnotic. 

 The nucleolus is often extruded. Some cells may be entirely destroyed; others 

 nearly normal. The cytoplasm may be markedly degenerated, with nearly 

 normal nucleus, or vice versa. The degenerative changes appear even in the 

 earlier stages of inanition. If the rabbits are refed after inanition, the nuclei 

 soon become normal but complete regeneration of the cytoplasm requires a 

 long time. Eve ('96), however, found no apparent decrease in the Nissl sub- 

 stance in the sympathetic nerve cells of the starved frog and rat. The article by 

 Zuboff ('03) was inaccessible. 



