Further Observations on Triethyltin Edema

Abstract

Fatal triethyltin intoxication is characterized by the presence of marked edema throughout the neuraxis. In electron micrographs of the neuropil of the mouse this edema occurs as swelling of the glial cell cytoplasm, the typical change observed in neuropil with edema produced by various agents.^33,34A unique form of cerebral edema was reported by Aleu, Katzman, and Terry³in studies of the white matter of rabbits poisoned with triethyltin. Electron micrographs showed the development of massive loculated collections of fluid contained within myelin sheaths. The myelin sheath was split, usually toward the outer lamellae, at an interperiod line. This line is formed by the apposed plasma membrane of the myelin forming cell. Thus, the interperiod line may indicate the site of a potential extracellular space. However, no connection between these vacuoles and the extracellular space was apparent. Nor was there appreciable alteration of the extracellular space. Chemical analysis