Hypomyelination
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(Wobbly Kittens)
Hypomyelination is a disorder of myelin
formation. It affects the central nervous system, and is
reported in most domestic animals. Although in many cases a
genetic basis has been demonstrated, several viruses have been
implicated and the possibility of toxic or nutritional factors
such as thiamine deficiency, should not be ruled out.
The nervous system contains billions of
neurons. These basic building blocks of the nervous system have
evolved from primitive neuron effector cells which respond to
various stimuli by contracting. Contraction has become the
specialised function of muscle cells, while transmission of
nerve impulses has become the specialised function of neurons.
NEURONS
A typical spinal motor neuron has 5 -7
processes called dendrites which extend out from the cell body
and branch out extensively. It also has along fibrous axon
which originates from a somewhat thickened area of the cell
body, the axon hillock. A short distance from it's origin, the
axon acquires a sheath of myelin, a protein- lipid complex made
up of many layers of unit membrane. The myelin sheath
envelopes the axon except at its ending and at periodic
constrictions about 1mm apart called nodes of Ranvier. The
axon ends in a number of synaptic knobs. These knobs contain
granules in which the synaptic transmitter secreted by the
nerve is stored. Some mammalian neurons and most neurons in the
invertebrates are unmyelinated; the axons are invested in
Schwann cells, but there has been no rotation of the axon to
produce multiple layers of myelin membrane.
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Motor neuron with myelinated axon.
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Diagrammatic representation of the relation
of axons to schwann cell in unmyelinated (left) and Myelinated
nerve(right). In the former, the axons are simply buried in the
cell. In the latter, the Schwann cell membrane is coiled many
times around the axon, forming the multiple layers of membrane
that make up myelin.
MYELINATION
Myelinogenesis begins some time after the
middle of gestation and continues in the postnatal period for
varying times depending on the species. It is more advanced at
birth in those species in which the young are able to stand and
walk soon after, for it correlates with the overall maturity of
the nervous system.
The process requires a complex unfolding
of events in order to be successful. In the first place there
must be a differentiation of competent myelinating cells in
sufficient number, they must migrate too, recognise and contact
the target axons appropriately. Secondly it has been clearly
shown that the axon itself must send a specific signal to the
myelinating cell to initiate it's investment. The diameter of
the axon dictates whether or not it is myelinated and how thick
the sheath will be. Finally the molecular components of the
myelin must be produced and delivered to their correct sites in
the membrane.
Myeliation does not occur synchronously
throughout the nervous system, but in a distinctly regional
sequence. Thus lesions of this type may involve some tracts
more than others, or completely spare some tracts. There may be
a complete absence of myelin or a reduced quantity,
hypomyelination. As would be expected clinical signs are
manifested early in life and the very common feature is
the onset of a sever generalised tremor syndrome at about three
weeks, which may vary in severity. The tremor disappears at
rest or during sleep. The gait is erratic and uncoordinated
but the young suckle, defaecate, urinate, are bright and grow
well.
The deficiency of myelin may in some
cases be permanent, while in others it seems that the
myelination may be delayed, but eventually proceeds to the
extent that clinical deficits resolve by six to eight weeks in
kittens, with no evidence of the breakdown of previously formed
sheaths.
References:
Review of Medical Psysiology / W.F.Ganong
Pathology of domestic animals/K.V.F.Jubb,
P.C. Kennedy, N.C.Palmer
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