Observations on Myelination of Human Spinal Cord and Some Effects of Parturitional Transection

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The changing pattern of myelination in the spinal cords of 9 normal infants aged between 2 and 8 months was contrasted with the patterns of myelination in cervical and thoracic spinal cords of 3 infants who survived parturitional lower cervical spinal cord transaction for 6, 9 and 11 months. The ascending tracts in all the normal spinal cords were densely myelinated. The corticospinal tracts were less myelinated than the fasciculi proprii in the cervical cord up to 4 months of age and in the lumbar cord up to 7 months of age. In 2 infants aged 8 months no difference between myelin staining of corticospinal tracts and fasciculi proprii were seen in either cervical or lumbar spinal cord. In contrast, the corticospinal tracts of the cervical spinal cord rostral to, and the spinocerebellar and spinothalamic tracts caudal to the transection were distinctly less myelinated than fasciculi proprii. It is proposed that these observations represent examples of delayed or decreased myelination as a result of absence of the peripheral connections of the axons in the central nervous system of infants. The impact of function and other factors upon myelination of axons is emphasized.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: