Changes in the magnocellular portion of the red nucleus following thoracic hemisection in the neonatal and adult rat

Abstract

The spinal cords of newborn (0–3 day old) and adult rats were mid‐thoracically hemisected. Ninety days later a glial and connective tissue scar had formed at the lesion site in the adult hemisected rats while in neonatally lesioned animals only normal appearing regions of the contralateral spinal cord were found in the area of hemisection. Comparisons of the magnocellular portions of the red nucleus (MPRN) revealed a decrease in cell number in the MPRN contralateral (C‐MPRN) to the spinal lesion. However, only in the newborn operates was there massive cell loss accompanied by reduction in area and change in shape of the nucleus. These changes were most obvious in the caudal and ventrolateral portions of the C‐MPRN. Pooled data from each group of operates indicated that significantly more cells were lost in the C‐MPRN in the newborn than in the adult operates (p < 0.01). Neurons of the C‐MPRN which are known to project to the lower cervical and upper thoracic segments of the spinal cord (Brown, '74; Gwyn, '71) remained undamaged after the mid‐thoracic hemisection in both groups. However, neurons of this region were enlarged in both groups when compared to a similar region of the ipsilateral MPRN. These neurons were found to be more enlarged in the newborn than in the adult operates (p < 0.01). This result indicates that massive retrograde cell death takes place after a mid‐thoracic hemisection in the neonatal rat. The retrograde degeneration of axotomized neurons partially may explain why CNS regeneration is not found in the immature mammal even though many of the factors thought to limit regeneration in the adult mammal may not be apparent. The increase in cell size of C‐MPRN neurons which remain in the neonatal animals after mid‐thoracic hemisection may be related to the increase in axonal size found in the region of the rubrospinal tract rostral to the thoracic lesion reported earlier (Prendergast and Stelzner, '76a). Both the increase in axonal and perikaryal size are hypothesized to be related to the increased distribution of supraspinal axons found in the gray matter rostral to a hemisection of the neonatal rat spinal cord.