Carbon disulfide neuropathy in rats. A morphological and ultrastructural study of degeneration and regeneration.

The aim of this study was to elucidate the site and detailed nature of peripheral nerve damage induced in the rat by chronic CS2 inhalation exposure in the light of the relationship between pathological and neurophysiological data. Adult male rats were exposed to 700 ppm of CS2 2 h/d, 5 d/week for 12 weeks and then followed-up for 18 weeks. The first alteration observed was a decrease in the nerve conduction velocity, discovered after only 3 weeks of exposure. Pathological lesions were first observed in the 10th week and consisted of a typical "giant axon" axonopathy. Obvious pathological lesions of the myelin sheaths were revealed much later, in the 3rd week after the end of exposure, when some nerve fibers were dying back. Recovery took place with the regeneration of new fibers which started in the 8th week after the end of exposure and was nearly complete in the 18th week. These findings demonstrate that CS2-induced polyneuropathy is an axonopathy very similar to that caused by other occupational neurotoxic agents like MnBK, n-hexane, and acrylamide. The timing of the pathological events within the nerve fibers suggests that the pathogenesis of the nerve lesions should probably be attributed to a primary energy failure of the axonal membrane induced by CS2.