Purkinje cells in degenerative diseases of the cerebellum and its connections: a Golgi study

The cellular pathology of Purkinje cells in several degenerative diseases of the cerebellum and its connections was studied with the rapid Golgi method. Purkinje cells from a patient with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (case 1) showed decreased numbers of spiny branchlets. In a patient with a cystic infarct of the cerebellar white matter and chronic deafferentation of the cerebellar cortex (case 2) there was a striking increase in the density of spines on the primary dendrites. No abnormalities were observed in Purkinje cells from two patients with hereditary spinocerebellar degeneration (cases 3 and 4). Purkinje cells in two patients with olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA) had severely reduced numbers of dendritic branches. Ballooned proximal axons were found in Purkinje cells with severely damaged dendrites (cases 5 and 6). In contrast to experimental olivary degeneration in laboratory animals, Purkinje cells from patients with OPCA did not have increased numbers of stubby spines in stout proximal dendrites but few spines with long pedicles were observed in the proximal segment of the primary dendrites and in the cellular body.