THE EFFECTS OF SUBARACHNOID INJECTIONS OF IRON‐CONTAINING SUBSTANCES ON THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

Noetzel (1) was the first to describe in man an unusual condition characterized by an accumulation of iron-positive pigment in the subpial and subependymal layers of the central nervous system, without systemic manifestations of hemo-chromatosis. Similar cases have since been published by Lewey and Govans (2), Cammermeyer (3), Neumann (4 and 5), Noetzel (6) and Garcin and Lapresel (7). Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the etiology of this remarkable neuropathological entity, which we propose to call “Subpial Cerebral Siderosis” (SCS). According to the first, the deposition of the iron-positive pigment is a result of subarachnoid hemorrhages; according to the second, it is a local manifestation of a generalized metabolic disorder, somehow similar to hemochromatosis. Since the evidence of subarachnoid hemorrhages in some of the cases described was not definite, it seemed warranted to investigate this problem experimentally by repeated injections of blood or iron-containing compounds into the subarachnoid spaces of dogs.