Ultrastructure of Rat Purkinje Neurons after Chronic Ethanol Consumption and Prolonged Abstinence ¹

Abstract

In the present study of nutrition control of Wistar white rats, the ultrastructure of cerebellar Purkinje cells was studied after chronic ethanol exposure and a subsequent period of prolonged abstinence: a qualitative investigation of the perikarya of Purkinje cells was performed in age-matched controls (group A) and rats alcohol-fed for 5 months and withdrawn from this diet for 3 months (group B). The results showed massive accumulation of small dense bodies as well as obvious deposition of lipofuscin in the Purkinje cells of group B. Furthermore, ring-shaped Golgi apparatus units, lamellar bodies and degenerative foci dispersed throughout the cytoplasm of the alcohol-treated animals referred to degeneration processes and neuronal cell death, the morphological characteristics and the aetiology of which are discussed.

An Overview of the Role of Lipofuscin in Age-Related Neurodegeneration

“…Also in a murine model, it was observed that chronic sleep disruption resulted in frequent activation of wake-activated neurons (WAN), which promotes mitochondrial metabolic stress and increased LF accumulation in a subgroup of WAN (Zhu et al, 2015 ). On the other hand, chronic alcohol consumption induces increasing LF deposition in rat hippocampal neurons (Borges et al, 1986 ) and Purkinje (Lewandowska et al, 1994 ; Wenisch et al, 1997 ; Dlugos, 2015 ). Mice lacking the expression of glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase 2 (a six-transmembrane protein that cleaves glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchors) show early neurodegeneration with vacuolization, microgliosis, cytoskeletal accumulation, and LF deposition followed by astrogliosis and cell death (Cave et al, 2017 ).…”

Inhibition of the Activity of Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 4 Expressed in Xenopus Oocytes After Chronic Exposure to Ethanol

“…Purkinje cells play an important role in motor coordination and are very sensitive to glutamate neurotoxicity (Zheng and Zuo, 2005). A change of the ultrastructures of cerebellar Purkinje cells has been shown after chronic ethanol exposure in rats (Koksal et al, 2005;Wenisch et al, 1997). Chronic prenatal ethanol exposure induces a decrease in guinea pig cerebellar Purkinje cell density (McGoey et al, 2003).…”