Paralysis agitans and sarcoma : report of a case, with autopsy / by Charles L. Dana.

Dana, Charles L. (Charles Loomis), 1852-1935.

Date:: [1899?]

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Paralysis agitans and sarcoma : report of a case, with autopsy / by Charles L. Dana. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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cases, the periphery, involving nearly half the body of the cell, in other cases attacking the centre of the cell-body and following it out, leaving a peripheral portion of fairly healthy substance. In many cases the pig¬ mented part had apparently dropped out, leaving vacuoles, and vacuo¬ lization of the cells is a more striking phenomenon than is often seen. This, I think, however, may be largely due to the bad preservation of the specimen, or, at least, due to a post-mortem chemical and mechanical change, caused by putting the tissue through various hardening processes. An attempt was made, at my suggestion, by Dr. Muskins to estimate the percentage of degenerative cells at different levels. The cells were Fig. 2. Diagram showing the relative percentage of degenerated nerve-cells in the anterior horn. Dark lines represent cells a and b. divided into three categories: (a) Those that, were extensively pigmented and degenerated, (6) those moderately so, and (c) those that were nearly normal. Cells of these three categories were counted in the different levels and percentages made out. In all the cells in sixty sections at different levels were counted. The percentages of cells indicated in group c, and degenerated cells, indicated by groups a and b, are shown diagrammatically in light and dark lines, respectively, upon the accom¬ panying diagram (Fig. 2). It will be seen that the greatest proportion of degenerated cells was in the lower cervical and first dorsal sections— the area where the tremor first starts; next to that in the mid-cervical region, then in the mid-lumbar and upper sacral regions. The least affected portion seemed to be the middle dorsal and upper dorsal.