title: Unmyelinated nerve fibers in sural nerve in pure autonomic failure.
abstract: We examined sural nerve biopsy specimens from 7 patients with pure autonomic failure (PAF). The mean unmyelinated nerve fiber density in these patients was 40% less than in age-matched controls. Increased numbers of clusters of collagen pockets not containing unmyelinated axons were the most prominent finding in PAF. This appears to reflect recent dropout of a group of sympathetic efferents and suggests grouping of unmyelinated fibers by modality at the level of the sural nerve trunk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tomimitsu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yokota
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohkoshi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mizusawa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001342:Autonomic Nervous System Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D001344:Autopsy; D001369:Axons / Q000473:pathology; D001706:Biopsy; D003094:Collagen / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology; D009431:Neural Conduction; D012016:Reference Values; D013497:Sural Nerve / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen