| Abstract: | ![]()
This morphologic investigation was undertaken with an inbred strain of C57BL/10 male mice to examine the accumulation of lipofuscin in nerve cells of dorsal ganglia and the cerebellum at 4, 8, 20, and 30 months of age. Histological examinations revealed that at four months of age, cells contained only a few small sudanophilic bodies distributed fairly uniformly throughout the cytoplasm. By 30 months, pigment aggregations became very prominent cytoplasmic features of many nerve cells in the dorsal ganglia and cerebellum. A more detailed examination of neurons from the dorsal ganglia with the electron microscope revealed particles of variable size with a high electron density at four and 8 months. By 20 and 30 months, the pigment bodies appeared to be larger and were more concentrated near the nucleus. In Purkinje cells of the cerebellum the pigment granules were observed only rarely at four and eight months. By 20 and 30 months, the granules in the Purkinje cells appeared to be larger, considerably more numerous, and concentrated between the nucleus and the apical dendrite. The intracellular pigment concentration was also estimated by calculations of the per cent of area occupied by pigment granules as well as by the per cent of the cells that contained pigment bodies at 4, 8, 20 and 30 months. A progressive increase in the intracellular pigment concentration was readily noted. |
