Electron microscopic studies on the cerebral lesions of rats in experimental carbon monoxide poisoning

Summary In experimental carbon monoxide poisoning, more marked and widespread pathological changes in the brain were seen in the white matter as compared with the gray matter. No essential difference, in the appearance of cerebral alterations, was detected between acute and chronic carbon monoxide poisoning. It was confirmed that the changes resulting from chronic poisoning showed a higher degree of severity as compared with those resulting from acute poisoning.Nerve cells with slightly dilated or fragmented endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complex in the gray matter were found infrequently. However, most mitochondria did not show any kind of abnormality in such cells. A remarkable dilatation of the endoplasmic reticulum of oligodendrocytes was sometimes seen in chronic cases. Capillaries remained intact and astrocytic perivascular foot-plates were not swollen. In the white matter, the normal constituents of the myelin sheath were partially lost and the myelin lamellae showed moderate exfoliation, or a change into homogenous or structureless substance. Myelinated axons were partially contracted and showed an irregularity in shape in transverse sections. Enlargement of occasional axonal mitochondria and the destruction of their internal parallel structures were observed. Cerebral anoxia caused by carboxyhaemoglobin, together with the cytotoxic action of carbon monoxide on the brain tissue and the disturbance of blood circulation in the brain are suggested as the chief factors in the pathogenesis of the cerebral alterations induced by experimental carbon monoxide poisoning.This work was supported by a grant from Science and Techniques Agency.