Comparative analysis of numerical density of ganglion cells with certain content of lipofuscin pigment in the parts of symphatetic trunk during the aging

Abstract

The neurons of the sympathetic trunk as well as the other nerve cells undergo of many changes during life. The most striking of these morphological changes, during normal aging, is the accumulation of lipofuscin-filled vacuoles or neuromelanin. Considering that the pigment is a non-biodegradable and can not be removed by exocytosis, the process of its accumulation in cells is unavoidable. The role of lipofuscin and its impact on cell function is not quite clear. Some authors consider that pigment does not damage the function of the cell, unless it contains lipofuscin in large quantities, and then it mechanically prevents its function so that could lead to cell death. Since we found a very little data in the literature about using morphometric methods in accumulation of pigment in ganglion cells or quantified observed changes, we set that the aim of this study is to confirm the presence of pigment in ganglionar cells of the symphatetic trunk, when it occurs in grater extent, as well as dinamics of its accumulation (quantification of ganglionar cells without pigment, those with partial presence of pigment, and those that were complitely filled with pigment) by using numerical density. For morphometric analysis we used test system M42. To determine the numerical density of ganglionar cells we used a method for thick cuts by Floderus. We found that interneuronal accumulation of lipofuscin is directly correlated with the aging process.

Keywords

• ganglion
• sympathetic trunk
• aging
• lipofuscin
• numerical density