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Time- and dose-dependent influence of ouabain on the ultrastructure of optic neurones

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Summary

The cardiac glycoside ouabain was injected into the eye-bulb of the teleost fish, Carassius carassius. Three doses of ouabain were used: 10-4 M, 10-5 M, 10-6 M. The final concentrations in the vitreous body of the eye were approximately 3 · 10-5 M, 3 · 10-6 M and 3 · 10-7 M, respectively. After 8 hrs, 1,2,4,6 and 8 days the ultrastructural alterations of retinal ganglion cells, the optic axons near the bulb and the terminal segments in the optic tectum were studied. The high doses of ouabain induced an early necrobiosis of the cell bodies in the retina followed by degeneration in the nerve. This is characterized as a protracted form of Wallerian degeneration. The significance of the inhibition of Na+-K+-activated ATPase at the perikaryal level for both the integrity of axonal morphology and the axonal flow is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Submicroscopic Pathology and Neuropathology, University of Tübingen, Germany

    Hartwig Wolburg

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  1. Hartwig Wolburg
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This work was supported by the grant Wo 215/1 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. I am gratefully indebted to Prof. Dr. W. Schlote for helpful discussions and for reading the manuscript.

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Wolburg, H. Time- and dose-dependent influence of ouabain on the ultrastructure of optic neurones. Cell Tissue Res. 164, 503–517 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00219941

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00219941

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