Demyelination and remyelination in the dorsal funiculus of the rat spinal cord after heat injury.

Part of the dorsal funiculus of the adult male rat (Wistar) spinal cord was treated for 1 h at the thoracolumbar level by running hot water, at approximately 48-50 degrees C, through a polyethylene tube 2 mm in diameter in contact with the dura. Animals were fixed 1 day to 4 weeks later and the spinal cords were examined by light and electron microscopy. The affected area in the dorsal funiculus was approximately 1 mm long and less than 1 mm wide at the dorsal surface, and varied from 0.4 to 0.7 mm in depth. Within 3 days after treatment, almost all the myelin sheaths in the affected area were degraded, leaving the axons denuded, and at the same time astrocyte endfeet at the glial limiting membrane were swollen and partly destroyed. Almost all the denuded axons remained intact, exhibiting no noticeable morphological changes. There was evidence of a moderate vasogenic oedema, but minimal signs of haemorrhage in the lesion. Seven days after treatment, many immature Schwann cells but no oligodendrocytes were found between the denuded axons. By 2 weeks many of the denuded axons were remyelinated, and by 4 weeks almost all of those axons located near the pial and perivascular surfaces had been remyelinated by Schwann cells, while most of those located in the deep and marginal zones bordering the adjoining intact areas were remyelinated by oligodendrocytes. Longitudinal sections revealed that at nodes of Ranvier PNS-type myelin sheaths were apposed by either intact or newly formed CNS-type myelin sheaths. A typical glial limiting membrane was not reformed beneath the pial surface, but an inconspicuous one was found between the PNS- and CNS-type fibre areas.