Age-related appearance of dystrophic axon terminals in cerebellar and vestibular nuclei of Mongolian gerbils.

In the brains of 360-day-old Mongolian gerbils, numerous swellings immunoreactive to anti-neurofilament antibody were observed in cerebellar and vestibular nuclei. The number of these swellings was the same in two gerbil strains with different susceptibility to spontaneous motor seizures by various stimuli, but much more numerous in gerbils as compared with the 360-day-old Slc:Wistar rats. Such swellings were only occasionally found before 60 days of age in gerbils, but they increased in number about fivefold from 60 to 180 days of age and about quadruple from 180 to 360 days of age. Electron microscopic observation showed that these swellings were dystrophic axon terminals (DATs) whose cytoplasms were occupied with large bundles of neurofilaments, numerous vesicular structures containing membranous and/or granular materials, and many rod-shaped mitochondria. Additionally, other types of DATs displaying degenerative changes of cytoplasmic organelles were observed. ACPase cytochemistry showed that the vesicular structures in the DATs contained ACPase and released it into the cytoplasm.

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