scholarly journals Multiple nocardial abscesses of the brainstem and spinal cord diagnosed after an open biopsy through a cervical partial central corpectomy: case report

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Peeters ◽  
Jan W. Casselman ◽  
Stefaan J. Vandecasteele ◽  
Alexander Janssen ◽  
Bart Regaert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Cervical Spinal Cord ◽  
Emission Tomography ◽  
Open Biopsy ◽  
Difficult Diagnosis ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Walking Difficulty ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain

Nocardiosis of the central nervous system is a challenging and difficult diagnosis for the clinician. The combination of infections of the brain and spinal cord is even more rare. The authors report on a patient with multiple lesions in the brainstem and cervical spinal cord. This 81-year-old immunocompetent woman presented with symptoms of progressive walking difficulty and ataxia. The results of an extensive workup with laboratory investigation, MRI, lumbar puncture, positron emission tomography (PET), and bone marrow biopsy remained inconclusive. Only after an open biopsy of a cervical lesion by an anterior approach through a partial central corpectomy of the cervical spine, was the diagnosis of nocardiosis made, allowing for specific antibiotic treatment.

scholarly journals Comparisons of neuroinflammation, microglial activation, and degeneration of the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system in APP/PS1 and aging mice

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Cao ◽  
Daniel W. Fisher ◽  
Guadalupe Rodriguez ◽  
Tian Yu ◽  
Hongxin Dong
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Locus Coeruleus ◽  
Microglial Activation ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Norepinephrine System ◽  
Protective Processes ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Background The role of microglia in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis is becoming increasingly important, as activation of these cell types likely contributes to both pathological and protective processes associated with all phases of the disease. During early AD pathogenesis, one of the first areas of degeneration is the locus coeruleus (LC), which provides broad innervation of the central nervous system and facilitates norepinephrine (NE) transmission. Though the LC-NE is likely to influence microglial dynamics, it is unclear how these systems change with AD compared to otherwise healthy aging. Methods In this study, we evaluated the dynamic changes of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in the LC-NE system in the brain and spinal cord of APP/PS1 mice and aged WT mice using immunofluorescence and ELISA. Results Our results demonstrated increased expression of inflammatory cytokines and microglial activation observed in the cortex, hippocampus, and spinal cord of APP/PS1 compared to WT mice. LC-NE neuron and fiber loss as well as reduced norepinephrine transporter (NET) expression was more evident in APP/PS1 mice, although NE levels were similar between 12-month-old APP/PS1 and WT mice. Notably, the degree of microglial activation, LC-NE nerve fiber loss, and NET reduction in the brain and spinal cord were more severe in 12-month-old APP/PS1 compared to 12- and 24-month-old WT mice. Conclusion These results suggest that elevated neuroinflammation and microglial activation in the brain and spinal cord of APP/PS1 mice correlate with significant degeneration of the LC-NE system.

scholarly journals ACCUMULATION OF ANTIBODIES IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

1930 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 889-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jules Freund
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Cerebrospinal Fluid ◽  
Slow Rate ◽  
Immune Serum ◽  
Brain Extract ◽  
Rapid Rate ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain

1. Antibodies can be extracted from the brain and spinal cord of rabbits actively or passively immunized with typhoid bacilli. 2. The titers of the antibodies in the extracts of brain and cord depend upon the titer of the blood serum. In actively immunized rabbits the following numerical relationships exist between the titers of the serum and of these organ extracts: The ratio of the titer of the serum is to the titers of extract of brain and of the spinal cord about as 100 is to 0.8; the titer of the serum is to the titer of the cerebrospinal fluid as 100 is to 0.3. In passively immunized rabbits the titer of the serum is to the titer of brain and spinal-cord extract as 100 is to 0.7. 3. The antibodies recovered from the brain are not due to the presence of blood in it for perfusion of the brain does not reduce its antibody content appreciably. 4. Antibodies penetrate into the spinal fluid from the blood even in the absence of inflammation of the meninges. When the penetration is completed the following numerical relationship exists between the titer of the serum and that of the cerebrospinal fluid: 100 to 0.25. 5. The penetration into the cerebrospinal fluid of antibodies injected intravenously proceeds at a slow rate, being completed only several hours after the immune serum has been injected. The penetration of antibodies into the tissue of the brain occurs at a very rapid rate. It is completed within 15 minutes. 6. It is very unlikely that when the immune serum is injected intravenously the antibodies reach the brain tissue by way of the cerebrospinal fluid, for (1) the antibody titer of the cerebrospinal fluid is lower than that of the brain extract, and (2) antibodies penetrate faster into the tissue of the brain than into the cerebrospinal fluid.

The Loss of Function Following on Lesions of the Central Nervous System [Ueber Die Ausfallerscheinungen nach Läsionen Des Central Nervensystems]. (Neurol. Cbl., Nr. 13, 1907.) Rothmann, Max

1908 ◽  
Vol 54 (225) ◽  
pp. 146-148
Author(s):  
William W. Ireland
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Lower Portion ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Cerebral Ganglia ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Central Lesions

Rothmann points out how important it is to surgeons that the localisation of lesions in the brain and spinal cord should be made with the utmost accuracy. In many cases diseases do not strike suddenly upon a nervous system previously intact. Often the circulation has been previously deranged by arterial sclerosis, which prepares the way for transitory hemiplegia or aphasia. Sometimes there is loss of function after central lesions, which disappears in longer or shorter time. Goltz and his followers have treated many effects following the extirpation of the whole or part of the cerebrum as due to what they call inhibition (Hemmung). Thus the functions of the spinal cord are much impaired after removal of the cerebral ganglia, or the lower portion of the cord loses its reflex function after section higher up, but after a while it again resumes its act$ibon.

Electrophysiology of the central and peripheral nervous systems

2020 ◽  
pp. 5785-5802
Author(s):  
Christian Krarup
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Nerve Conduction Studies ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
The Core ◽  
Electrophysiological Studies ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain

This chapter looks at electrophysiological studies of the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system—the core investigations in clinical neurophysiology. These include electroencephalography, which is of value to diagnose epilepsy caused by focal or diffuse brain diseases, electromyography and nerve conduction studies, which are of value to diagnose diseases in nerves and muscles, and evoked potentials, which are of value to diagnose diseases of white matter in the brain and spinal cord.

scholarly journals Lymphocytic meningoencephalomyelitis associated with Myxobolus sp. (Bivalvulidae: Myxozoa) infection in the Amazonian fish Eigenmannia sp. (Sternopygidae: Gymnotiformes)

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ledamir Sindeaux Neto ◽  
Michele Velasco ◽  
José Mauro Vianna da Silva ◽  
Patricia de Fátima Saco dos Santos ◽  
Osimar Sanches ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Histopathological Analysis ◽  
Administrative District ◽  
Amazon Estuary ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Hematoxylin Eosin

Abstract The genus Myxobolus, parasites that infect fishes, which cause myxobolosis, includes spore organisms belonging to the phylum Myxozoa and represents approximately 36% of all species described for the entire phylum. This study describes lymphocytic meningoencephalomyelitis associated with Myxobolus sp. infection in the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system, CNS) of Eigenmannia sp., from the Amazon estuary region, in the Administrative District of Outeiro (DAOUT), Belém, Pará, Brazil. In May and June 2015, 40 Eigenmannia sp. specimens were captured from this region and examined. The fish were anesthetized, slaughtered and dissected for sexing (gonad evaluation) and studying parasites and cysts; after diagnosing the presence of the myxozoans using a light microscope, small fragments of the brain and spinal cord were removed for histological processing and Hematoxylin-Eosin and Ziehl-Neelsen staining. Histopathological analysis of the brain and spinal cord, based on histological sections stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin, pronounced and diffuse edema in these tissues, and congestion, degeneration, and focal necrosis of the cerebral cortex. The present study describes lymphocytic meningoencephalomyelitis associated with infection by Myxobolus sp. in the central nervous system of Eigenmannia sp.

scholarly journals Reduced neurite density in the brain and cervical spinal cord in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis: A NODDI study

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 1647-1657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Collorone ◽  
Niamh Cawley ◽  
Francesco Grussu ◽  
Ferran Prados ◽  
Francesca Tona ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Cervical Spinal Cord ◽  
Cognitive Disability ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Neurite Density ◽  
Relapsing Remitting ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects both brain and spinal cord. However, studies of the neuraxis with advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are rare because of long acquisition times. We investigated neurodegeneration in MS brain and cervical spinal cord using neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI). Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate possible alterations, and their clinical relevance, in neurite morphology along the brain and cervical spinal cord of relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) patients. Methods: In total, 28 RRMS patients and 20 healthy controls (HCs) underwent brain and spinal cord NODDI at 3T. Physical and cognitive disability was assessed. Individual maps of orientation dispersion index (ODI) and neurite density index (NDI) in brain and spinal cord were obtained. We examined differences in NODDI measures between groups and the relationships between NODDI metrics and clinical scores using linear regression models adjusted for age, sex and brain tissue volumes or cord cross-sectional area (CSA). Results: Patients showed lower NDI in the brain normal-appearing white matter (WM) and spinal cord WM than HCs. In patients, a lower NDI in the spinal cord WM was associated with higher disability. Conclusion: Reduced neurite density occurs in the neuraxis but, especially when affecting the spinal cord, it may represent a mechanism of disability in MS.

scholarly journals Gross Morphology of the Brain and Spinal Cord of the African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
O. O. Igado ◽  
S. F. Braimah ◽  
A. A. Obasa
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Foramen Magnum ◽  
Linear Measurements ◽  
Olfactory Bulbs ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Average Body ◽  
Gross Examination

Abstract The African pygmy hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) is an insectivorous animal, native to Africa. The central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain and the spinal cord, protected by the cranium and vertebral column respectively. Assessment of the gross appearance and morphometries of the African pygmy hedgehog CNS were carried out using six adults (3 males and 3 females). The gross examination showed the brains to be lissencephalic, with relatively large olfactory bulbs, similar to that observed in some rodents. The rootlets of the first cervical spinal nerves were observed to emerge before the foramen magnum. Linear measurements were obtained from both the brain and spinal cord. The mean weight of the animals was 199.00 ± 16.09 g, with the males having an average body weight of 183.50 ± 12.02 g and the females 206.80 ± 11.95 g. Although not statistically significant, the males had a higher encephalisation quotient (0.40 ± 0.08) relative to the females 0.36 ± 0.04). The values for the brain weight, length of spinal cord and heights of the telencephalon and diencephalon at different points were higher in the males, while the spinal cord weight, length of brain and cerebellar height were higher in the females. The spinal cord showed slight enlargements at the cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral segments. This study aimed to provide baseline data for the study of the gross appearance and neuromorpho-metrics of the hedgehog, with possible application in regional anaesthesiology and comparative wildlife neuroanatomy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document