Myelinated nerve fibres and the fate of lanthanum tracer: an in vivo study.

The permeability of the marginal tight junctional system of myelin was tested in the rat employing the electron-dense tracer lanthanum nitrate. Lanthanum was either included in the fixative used for vascular perfusion (at a concentration of 20 mM) or was microinjected in vivo into the sural or tibial nerve (5, 10 and 20 mM). After 5-60 minutes, the microinjected nerves were fixed either by immersion or vascular perfusion. Lanthanum tracer was present in the intraperiod line gap of myelin, irrespective of the mode of application of the tracer, the method of fixation or the time of exposure to lanthanum. However, the tracer was present more extensively when included in the fixative compared with in vivo microinjection. Internodally, lanthanum was usually restricted to the inner, or more commonly, the outer lamellae of larger fibres, while all lamellae were usually penetrated by tracer in smaller fibres. Paranodally, compact myelin was more extensively penetrated. The periaxonal space (between axon and Schwann cell) was readily accessible to tracer. It is concluded that the marginal tight junctional system of myelin is apparently of the 'leaky' type and is permeable to ions. The findings have implications for the electrophysiology and pathophysiology of the myelinated nerve fibre.