Spinal cord lesions induced by antigalactocerebroside serum.

The spinal cord lesions induced by micro-injection of high titre anti-galactocerebroside serum (anti-GC) into the dorsal columns of the rat were studied by light and electron microscopy. The lesions typically comprised a central zone of Wallerian-type degeneration surrounded by pockets of primary demyelination. Both oligodendrocytes and astrocytes were reduced in the lesions. Demyelination also occurred in the dorsal roots. Evidence of remyelination by oligodendrocytes and by Schwann cells was found in the 10 to 12 day cord lesions. The dorsal column lesions differ from the optic nerve lesions induced by anti-GC which are almost exclusively demyelinative, and in which astrocytes are largely spared and remyelination is more prominent.