The fate of axonal debris in Wallerian degeneration of rat optic and sciatic nerves. Electron microscopy and immunofluorescence studies with neurofilament antisera.

Immunofluorescence demonstrated that axonal debris reacting with neurofilament antisera persist up to 4 months in rat optic nerves undergoing Wallerian degeneration. Antisera used in this study allowed the isolation of the 72,000- and 150,000-dalton neurofilament polypeptides from rat spinal cord by immunoaffinity chromatography. After 2 weeks of degeneration, proteins co-migrating with these neurofilament polypeptides were no longer identifiable in rat optic nerves, which suggests that immunofluorescent structures persisting in the nerves after this period contained neurofilament degradation products of different molecular weight. Additional evidence as to the persistence of axonal debris in degenerated optic nerves was obtained by electron microscopy. Two distinct types of axonal degeneration were observed in rat optic nerves by this method, floccular swelling and increased electron density of the axoplasm. In both types of degeneration, axoplasmic filaments and tubules were not identifiable. Although floccular material disappeared after 2 weeks of degeneration, so that only empty myelin sheaths remained, electron-dense axons persisted longer and were probably phagocytosed together with their myelin sheaths. In sciatic nerves, cross-reaction with neurofilament antisera had almost completely disappeared 10 days after transection. The same was true for nerves which had been tightly ligated to prevent axonal growth and to squeezed nerves which showed vigorous regeneration. A few scattered, brightly immunofluorescent fragments which persisted in nerves up to 2 weeks after transection were exception to these findings.