title: Temporal Sequence of Autolysis in the Cerebellar Cortex of the Mouse.
abstract: This study examined the temporal sequence of post-mortem changes in the cerebellar cortical granular and Purkinje cell layers of mice kept at a constant ambient temperature for up to 4 weeks. Nuclei of granule cell microneurons became pyknotic early after death, increasing progressively until, by 7 days, widespread nuclear lysis resulted in marked cellular depletion of the granular layer. Purkinje cells were relatively unaltered until about 96 h post mortem, at which time there was shrinkage and multivacuolation of the amphophilic cytoplasm, nuclear hyperchromasia and, sometimes, a perinuclear clear space. By 7 days, Purkinje cells had hypereosinophilic cytoplasm and frequent nuclear pyknosis. By 2 weeks after death, Purkinje cells showed homogenization, the cytoplasm being uniformly eosinophilic, progressing to a 'ghost-like' appearance in which the cytoplasm had pale eosinophilic staining with indistinct cell boundaries, and nuclei often absent. The results of this study could assist in differentiating post-mortem autolysis from ante-mortem lesions in the cerebellar cortex and determining the post-mortem interval. Moreover, this information could be useful when interpreting brain lesions in valuable mice found dead unexpectedly during the course of biomedical experiments.
authors.affiliation: SA Pathology, Hanson Institute Centre for Neurological Diseases and Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Electronic address: john.finnie@sa.gov.au.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Finnie
authors.affiliation: SA Pathology, Hanson Institute Centre for Neurological Diseases and Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Blumbergs
authors.affiliation: SA Pathology, Hanson Institute Centre for Neurological Diseases and Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Manavis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001329:Autolysis / Q000473:pathology*; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000473:pathology; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: autolysis; cerebellar cortex; mouse; temporal evolution