196 



INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



group of the anterior horn cells (Fig. 61). In these cells the Nissl granules 

 undergo chromatolysis, and the nucleus appears swollen. Schaffer ('97) noted 

 that the chromatolytic changes in the anterior horn cells of fasting rabbits are 

 more intensive, and accompanied by greater vacuolation of the cytoplasm, in 

 total inanition, than with water only. The nucleus also becomes deeply stained 

 throughout. Jacobsohn O97) failed to confirm Schaffer, however, and 

 Placzek ('99) found no nuclear changes, but merely chromatolysis (also some 

 degeneration in the posterior column by the Marchi method). The work on 

 nerve cell changes during inanition up to 1898 was reviewed by Barbacci ('99), 

 Robertson ('99), and more recently by Marinesco ('09). 



Further studies on the anterior horn cells of fasting rabbits and guinea pigs 

 were made by Marchand and Vurpas ('01), using various stains (picrocarmine, 

 haematoxylin, Nissl's, Pal-Weigert, Marchi and Golgi methods). The changes 



are described in 3 stages, with 

 intermediate forms: (1) cell size 

 unchanged; cytoplasm becomes 

 decolorized, with pale Nissl gran- 

 ules ; nucleus central and unstained , 

 with distinct nucleolus; (2) cell 

 somewhat shrunken, with fewer 

 and thicker processes; Nissl bodies 

 finely granular; nucleus eccentric 

 and irregular in form, deeply stain- 

 ing with nucleolus still distinct; (3) 

 Fig. 61. — Nerve cells from the ventral horn of preceding changes more extreme, 



the spinal cord in the rabbit, stained by Nissl's •.■■ • , n .-,. ■. 



method, a. cell from normal control; b, c, cells show- Wlth "Tegular Cell Outline, shorter 



ing the progressive disintegration of the Nissl bodies and less numerous Cell processes; 



after 5 to 7 days of total inanition. (Ganfini '97.) 1 1 . • • 1 



deeply-staining, non-granular, vac- 

 uolated cytoplasm; nucleus atrophied and deeply staining or disappeared; no 

 cell pigment. The lesions appear by various stains, best by Nissl's method. 

 The neuroglia and medullated nerve fibers appear normal. 



Holmes ('03) described chromatolysis, vacuolation and nuclear swelling 

 in the nerve cells of the spinal cord in frogs subjected to exhaustion and 

 inanition; and Mourre ('04) similarly found chromatolysis in the nerve cells of 

 guinea pigs. Gurewitsch ('08) found chromatolysis to a slight degree in starved 

 rabbits; but more pronounced in dogs, surviving for a longer period. The 

 changes found by various investigators in the nerve cells during hibernation 

 will be mentioned later 



We come now to the era of investigation of the intracellular neurofibrillae. 

 By means of a modified silver method, Cajal ('04a) and Dustin ('06) demon- 

 strated marked changes in the nerve cells of leeches starved 2 months or more. 

 There is partial degeneration and resorption of the neurofibrillar network; the 

 fibrillae thicken, the meshes become narrower, and finally the nucleus breaks up 

 into irregularly scattered, deeply- staining granules. A similar thickening of the 

 neurofibrillae probably occurs in the nerve cells of adult mammals (dog and rab- 

 bit) subjected to cold, especially in combination with inanition. 



