Morfological changes of the nervous system in alcoholic and diabetic polyneuro pathies

Abstract

We carried out studies on morphological changes of the centraland peripheral nervous system resulted from exo- and endotoxicfactors, exemplified by alcohol disease and diabetes. The cervical,thoracic and lumbar parts of the spinal cord, the spinal ganglia,sciatic nerve and shin muscles from 27 male individuals (15with alcoholic polyneuroupathy and 12 with diabetic polyneuropathy)and 4 young man died from life-incompatible traumaswere examined postmortem by histochemistry, light and electronicmicroscopy. Severe neuronal damage in the lumbar spinalregion in diabetic polyneuroupathy and selective damage of theanterior horns in alcoholic polyneuroupathy were revealed. Theincidence of neural atrophy was relatively equal in both forms,and muscle atrophy prevailed in patients with alcoholism.

Keywords

• alcohol
• diabetes
• polyneuropathy
• spinal cord
• nerve
• muscle