WALLERIAN DEGENERATION IN THE RAT A CHEMICAL STUDY

Abstract

The wet weight of the sciatic nerve of the rat increased as the nerve degenerated after nerve section. At the same time the concentration of nucleic acid increased and the concentration of total phospholipid, sphingomyelin (phosphosphingoside), and free cholesterol decreased. Cholesterol ester, absent from intact nerves, appeared during the degeneration. These findings are in agreement with those previously reported for the sciatic nerve of the cat (3, 5), with the exception that all the changes took place more rapidly in the rat than in the cat. It would thus appear that the changes previously described for the cat are general in nature and not merely characteristic of one particular species. These experiments indicate that the rat is a suitable experimental animal for the study of the effect of dietary and other factors on Wallerian degeneration.