Selective degeneration of dorsal root ganglia and dorsal nerve roots in methyl mercury-intoxicated rats: a stereological study

The components of the nervous system of rats that are most critically affected by methyl mercury are still a matter of debate. A recent stereological study of rats with typical symptoms resulting from methyl mercury intoxication demonstrated that the morphology of cerebellar granule cells and Purkinje cells were unchanged at the light microscopic level, even though there was pronounced degeneration of myelinated axons in dorsal nerve root nerves. In the present study, unbiased stereological methods were used to quantify morphological changes in the dorsal root ganglion, and dorsal and ventral nerve roots of the rats used in the previous study. The rats were treated with methyl mercury (2 mg daily/kg, per os) for a 19-day period that was followed by a 32-day period without treatment. The means of the total numbers of A-cell and B-cell perikarya in the dorsal root ganglion of the intoxicated rats were reduced by 60% and 24%, respectively. The mean volume of A-cell perikarya in rats of the experimental group was reduced by 22%, whereas the mean volume of B-cell perikarya was the same in the two groups. In the experimental group, the total number of myelinated axons in the dorsal nerve roots was reduced by 60%, whereas no difference was found in the ventral nerve roots. The areas of axon and myelin sheath, dorsal and ventral nerve roots were not affected. This study demonstrates that extensive loss of dorsal root ganglion cells and myelinated axons in dorsal nerve roots precedes light microscopical changes in the ventral nerve roots and the cerebellum of rats intoxicated with methyl mercury. Received: 16 January 1998 / Revised, accepted: 23 February 1998