Summary
Brain and spinal ganglia of mouse fetuses were examined under the light- and electon microscope 4 to 24 h after a 5 mg/kg dosage of vincristine. The following changes were observed:
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1.
In many proliferating cells, an inhibition of mitosis during metaphase could already be found after 4 h.
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2.
Numerous interphase cells develop damaged nuclear structures and organelles at the end of the 24 h period.
On the one hand mitotic inhition can be demonstrated only in the proliferating paraventricular zones of the brain and also thinly scattered in the spinal ganglia. On the other hand cells demonstrating the typical pattern of damage to nucleus and organelles can be found diffusely spread through the whole cortex and spinal ganglia. The chromatin is clumped together in the nuclei of these cells, it is also extremely electron dense and arranged in wide threads. The perinuclear cistern is very widened and has often disintegrated into vesicles. Hereby wide connections between caryo- and cytoplasma develop. The number and size of the rough ER is decreased, often puffed up and vesicularly disintegrated. The quantity of free ribosomes has also decreased and polysomes are scarcely seen. The other cell organelles are often swollen.
The connection between vincristine and the ultrastructural changes can be partly understood on the basis of the biochemical findings.
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Durchgeführt mit Unterstützung durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft im Rahmen des SFB 29
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Noack, W. Elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen am Gehirn und an den Spinalganglien von Mäussembryonen (Tag 12–17) nach Gabe von Vincristin. Acta Neuropathol 22, 42–57 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687549
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687549