No abstract

Abstract. Water hemlock causes numerous livestock losses in North America every year. Description of pathologic and serum biochemical changes has been lacking in the literature. Tubers of western water hemlock (Cicuta douglasii) induced excessive salivation, tremors, grand mal seizures, skeletal and cardiac myodegeneration, and death in sheep given 1.2-2.7 g fresh tuber/kg body weight by gavage. Seizures were intermittent with periods of relaxation until death occurred from anoxia during seizure activity. In sheep given 1.5-2.5 times the lethal dose of water hemlock by gavage, intravenous administration of sodium pentobarbital at the onset of the first seizure prevented further seizure activity and skeletal and cardiac myodegeneration and resulted in rapid and complete recovery.

The innervation of the pancreatic islets of a teleost fish, Gillichthys mirabilis, was investigated with various techniques including axonal iontophoresis of cobalt, light microscopy, and electron microscopy. Two types of postganglionic neurons, the splanchnic and the vagus, innervate the islet parenchyma. The splanchnic fibers originate from the single coeliac ganglion, situated near the third spinal nerve on the right side, and pass caudally to the islet. Postganglionic vagal fibers reaching the islets arise from ganglion cells located at irregular intervals along the vagus nerve. Iontophoresis of cobaltous chloride revealed that both types of nerves send large numbers of fibers to the islet cells. Electron microscopy showed that the granules of the vagal fibers are polymorphic, large (130 mm diameter) and markedly electron dense, whereas the splanchnic granules are smaller (100 nm diameter) and less electron dense than those of the vagus. These granules do not correspond to those seen in postganglionic autonomic neurons of other vertebrates. Rather, they are more like classical neurosecretory granules. Although their chemical nature is unknown, the extent of islet innervation suggests that it must play an important regulatory role.