Upper motor neuron lesions in stroke patients do not induce anterograde transneuronal degeneration in spinal anterior horn cells.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether upper motor neuron lesions in stroke can cause transneuronal degeneration of lower motor neurons, we assessed spinal anterior horn cells in patients dying with poststroke hemiplegia.


METHODS
Subjects were four stroke patients with severe left hemiplegia and four age-matched control subjects who died of nonneurological disease. After histological processing and staining, cytoarchitectonic assessment was made of all neurons in the ventral horns of the 4th lumbar segment of the spinal cord according to cell diameter and topography.


RESULTS
In the four stroke patients, no differences were seen in anterior horn cell populations or diameter and size distribution patterns between affected and unaffected sides or between these patients and the control subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
The present quantitative analysis provides no evidence of anterograde transneuronal degeneration of lower motor neurons after upper motor neuron damage in stroke patients.
Terao
S
S
Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Aichi Medical University, Japan.
Li
M
M
Hashizume
Y
Y
Osano
Y
Y
Mitsuma
T
T
Sobue
G
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002102:Cadaver; D002452:Cell Count; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000473:pathology*; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000473:pathology; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology*