EFFECTS ON THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM 207 



In 18 necropsies in cases of infantile beriberi, Andrews ('12) sectioned and 

 stained various nerves (vagus, phrenic, intercostal, anterior tibial) by the 

 Marchi method. There is degeneration of some fibers, but not so extensively 

 as in the adult. Nagayo ('23) states that the peripheral nerve lesions are similar 

 in human beriberi and in experimental polyneuritis. 



In lower animals, the condition of polyneuritis was found by Eijkman ('97) 

 in his classic work on experimental beriberi by a polished rice diet in chicks. He 

 observed atrophic and degenerative changes in the peripheral nerves as well as 

 in the spinal cord (especially in the anterior horn cells). Eijkman ('13) thought 

 the lesions caused directly by a toxin, arising probably from a metabolic distur- 

 bance involved in the dietary deficiency. Vedder and Clark ('12) studied poly- 

 neuritis gallinarum in 56 fowls on polished rice diet. In marked cases, the vagus 

 fibers usually all show degenerative changes, but none appear in the cervical 

 sympathic ganglia or in their preganglionic or postganglionic fibers. All of 

 the fowls on the diet 35 days or more showed degeneration in the sciatic nerve 

 fibers, whether neuritic symptoms were present or not (Fig. 65). In advanced 

 degeneration, the myelin sheath breaks up into globules and the axis cylinder 

 disintegrates. Similar degenerative changes appear also in the nerve fibers of 

 both dorsal and ventral spinal nerve roots, with chromatolysis and other 

 changes in the large nerve cells of both ventral and dorsal horns. 



Schnyder ('14), however, found no changes in the sciatic nerve of white 

 mice dying from experimental beriberi, and but slight degeneration in birds, 

 cats, and all but one of 4 dogs (one showing marked degeneration in the sciatic). 

 He suggests that the lesions in the peripheral nerves may appear only when the 

 disorder is prolonged. Tasawa ('15) observed various degenerative changes in 

 experimental polyneuritis (200 chicks and 150 pigeons), and also the regenerative 

 processes. 



Voegtlin and Lake ('19) described degeneration of the myelin sheaths in the 

 spinal cord and peripheral nerves of cats, dogs and rats with polyneuritis pro- 

 duced by dietary deficiency. Kimura ('19) claimed that in beriberi of birds 

 the degeneration of the medullated nerve fibers begins in the axone, rather than 

 in the medullary sheath. He also describes degenerative changes in the nerve 

 fibers and cells of the spinal cord. According to Funk ('22), similar studies 

 were made by Weill and Mouriquand ('17), Kato and Shizume ('19) and Paguchi 

 ('19). Findlay ('21) noted nearly constant myelin sheath degeneration in the 

 sciatic, and also degenerative changes in the sympathetic ganglia of the intestine 

 and suprarenal, in avian beriberi. 



Karr ('20) showed that in the dog on diets deficient in vitamin B, the nerve 

 lesions appear only in those which continue to eat nearly up to the time of 

 appearance of the nervous symptoms; otherwise they die of starvation without 

 the nerve lesions. Hofmeister ('22), in conformity with the above mentioned 

 observations of Schnyder ('14) on white mice, finds that in beriberi of rats there 

 is no evidence of a degeneration of the peripheral nerves, although in severe 

 cases lesions occur in the brain (as mentioned in Chapter X). 



McCarrison ('21) points out that typical Wallerian degeneration may occur 

 in the sciatic and vagus nerves of apparently healthy pigeons, though less 



