Acta neuropathologica
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Acta neuropathologica · Jul 2000
Spinal cord compression injury in the mouse: presentation of a model including assessment of motor dysfunction.
The purpose of this study was to develop a spinal cord injury model in the mouse. Various degrees of extradural compression were used to induce mild, moderate or severe compression injuries. Furthermore, a locomotor rating scale was developed by which the functional outcome of the spinal cord injury could be assessed. ⋯ This study shows that the mouse can be used to achieve reproducible spinal cord compression injuries of various degrees of severity. The force of the impact correlates well with the neurological and light microscopic outcome. The motor function test presented in this paper and the computerized quantification of tissue damage can be used to evaluate the efficacy of different treatment strategies.
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Acta neuropathologica · Apr 1999
Xanthogranuloma of the sellar region: a clinicopathological entity different from adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma.
Xanthogranulomatous change of craniopharyngioma, consisting of cholesterol clefts, macrophages, chronic inflammatory infiltrates, necrotic debris and hemosiderin deposits, has been traditionally considered a hallmark of the adamantinomatous variant, even in the absence of epithelium. Based on a series of 110 craniopharyngioma patients undergoing primary surgery, we found 37 specimens with a predominating xanthogranulomatous component. ⋯ On the other hand, xanthogranulomatous and adamantinomatous lesions did not differ with respect to sex, amount of cystic components, or the intraoperative aspect, considered by the neurosurgeon as being typical for craniopharyngioma in all cases. We suggest that xanthogranuloma (cholesterol granuloma) of the sellar region is clinically and pathologically distinct from the classical adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma.
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Intracranial cartilaginous tumors are rare lesions, usually arising from the skull base in older individuals. We report the case of a 12-year-old girl with a low-grade type chondrosarcoma arising from the falx cerebri. ⋯ She was treated with gross total surgical resection followed by external beam radiation because there was evidence of dural infiltration by tumor in and around the superior sagittal sinus. The patient remains progression free 9 months after surgery.
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Acta neuropathologica · Dec 1997
Chronological and immunohistochemical observations of cerebellar dysplasia and vermis defect in the hereditary cerebellar vermis defect (CVD) rat.
Hereditary cerebellar vermis defect (CVD) rats, a new neurological mutant, developed both cerebellar vermis defect and cerebellar dysplasia. Developmental alterations in the cerebellum of the CVD rats were studied chronologically and immunohistochemically. The earliest architectural abnormality was a maldevelopment of the inferior cerebellar peduncle from embryonic day 17 (E17), leading to an indistinct separation between the cerebellum and the pons. ⋯ Immunohistochemistry for calbindin revealed that abnormal orientation of the Purkinje cells might be related to the perivascular EGCs. Parvalbumin-immunopositive microneurons were seen only in the disarranged molecular layers, and synaptophysin-immunopositive cerebellar glomeruli were present in the afflicted internal granular layers. These findings suggest that perivascular EGCs may play an important role in cerebellar dysplasia and the developmental plasticity in the altered cerebellogenesis.
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Acta neuropathologica · Jul 1997
Case ReportsCystic ganglioneurocytoma outside the ventricular region.
Recently cases of ganglioneurocytoma and cerebral neurocytoma, very rare variants of central neurocytoma, have been reported. The former is characterized by differentiation toward ganglion cells and the latter by extraventricular origin in the cerebrum, but their existence as distinct clinicopathological entities, is controversial. ⋯ This is a very rare case of central neurocytoma-like tumor outside the ventricular system and also of ganglioneurocytoma. This case may provide some insight into the tumorigenesis and widen the clinicopathological concept of neurocytoma.