Myelination as a parameter of normal and retarded brain maturation.

In this study a comparison of the myelination rate in humans in normal and pathologic conditions was made. The progress of myelination was examined on slides stained by the Klüver-Barrera method and evaluated as to four degrees. The prenatal myelination in the brain stem in a group of newborns who died of pregnancy pathology was correlated with normal brain stem myelination. Retardation of myelination by 2 to 10 weeks was found in cases with gestosis and diabetes in anamnesia. The myelin sheath formation in a group of children who died during the first three years of life after severe chronic diseases neoplastic and congenital heart failure was compared with the normal rate of postnatal myelination of the temporal lobe. The myelination process was evidently retarded by 2 to 20 months. The observations presented in this paper allowed the conclusion that pathologic conditions occurring in the maturing human may cause retarded maturation of myelin sheath.