title: Morphometric investigations of the mitochondrial damage in ceroid lipopigment accumulation due to vitamin E deficiency.
abstract: Numeric (Nv) and volume (Vv) densities, as well as the average size (skeleton: Sk) of synaptic mitochondria from adult, normally fed and adult, vitamin E deficient animals (11 months of age) were semiautomatically measured by computer-assisted morphometry in the cerebellar granular layer. Nv, Vv and the average mitochondrial volume (V) were measured on perikaryal Purkinje cell organelles preferentially stained for succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) activity. Adult vitamin E deficient animals showed a significant decrease of Nv, a significant increase of Sk and an unchanged value of Vv. While in adult normally fed animals the mitochondria of increased size (Sk>5 microm) were 5.3%, in the adult vitamin E deficient rats this fraction accounted for 25.5%. In Purkinje cell perikarya, vitamin E deficiency resulted in a significant decrease of Vv, Nv and V, as well as a steeper reduction of the percentage of SDH-positive mitochondria of larger size. Taken together, these findings document that vitamin E deficiency is responsible of mitochondrial morphometric alterations in adult rats. Structurally deteriorated mitochondria are reported to play a role in producing increased amounts of free radicals, which can facilitate the accumulation of ceroid pigment.
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology of Aging Centre, N Masera, Research Department, INRCA, Via Birarelli 8, I-60121 Ancona, Italy. c.bertoni@inrca.it
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bertoni-Freddari
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fattoretti
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Casoli
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Stefano
authors.forename: Moreno
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Solazzi
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Corvi