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17 - Axon degeneration and rescue

from Section B1 - Neural repair

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2012

John W. Griffin
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Ahmet Höke
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Thien T. Nguyen
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Michael Selzer
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Stephanie Clarke
Affiliation:
Université de Lausanne, Switzerland
Leonardo Cohen
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Pamela Duncan
Affiliation:
University of Florida
Fred Gage
Affiliation:
Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego
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Summary

Introduction

In the mid-19th century Augustus Waller found that the distal stump of a severed axon underwent degeneration, while the axon proximal to the site of injury survived (Waller, 1850). Waller's seminal contribution was made in England only 2 years after Schleiden and Schwann articulated the cell theory in 1848. It had previously been recognized that following transection of a nerve, the muscles were paralyzed. Waller brought to such experiments the advent of microscopy. In the frog hypoglossal nerve he observed that distal to the site of section the fibers survived for only a few days, then degenerated so that the “axis cylinders” – the axons – disappeared (Waller, 1850). Proximal to the site of section they survived.

Implicit in the findings of Waller the idea that the nerve cell body is a nutritive source for the axon, without which the axon can only survive for short periods. This observation identified the nerve cell body as the “nourishing mother” of a dependent axon, and suggested that the separation of the severed axon from the cell body resulted in passive starvation of the axon. Waller's inferences have proved largely correct: most macromolecular synthesis occurs largely in the nerve cell body, so that the axon is largely a metabolically dependent structure. Yet the inescapable lesson of the last two decades of research is that Wallerian degeneration is not passive, but an energy-requiring, temperature-sensitive active process of self-destruction, conceptually analogous to apoptotic mechanisms of cell death (see Volume I, Chapter 16).

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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  • Axon degeneration and rescue
    • By John W. Griffin, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA, Ahmet Höke, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA, Thien T. Nguyen, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
  • Edited by Michael Selzer, University of Pennsylvania, Stephanie Clarke, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, Leonardo Cohen, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, Pamela Duncan, University of Florida, Fred Gage, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego
  • Book: Textbook of Neural Repair and Rehabilitation
  • Online publication: 05 March 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545061.020
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  • Axon degeneration and rescue
    • By John W. Griffin, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA, Ahmet Höke, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA, Thien T. Nguyen, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
  • Edited by Michael Selzer, University of Pennsylvania, Stephanie Clarke, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, Leonardo Cohen, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, Pamela Duncan, University of Florida, Fred Gage, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego
  • Book: Textbook of Neural Repair and Rehabilitation
  • Online publication: 05 March 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545061.020
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Axon degeneration and rescue
    • By John W. Griffin, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA, Ahmet Höke, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA, Thien T. Nguyen, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
  • Edited by Michael Selzer, University of Pennsylvania, Stephanie Clarke, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, Leonardo Cohen, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, Pamela Duncan, University of Florida, Fred Gage, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego
  • Book: Textbook of Neural Repair and Rehabilitation
  • Online publication: 05 March 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545061.020
Available formats
×