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Axon retraction following guanethidine treatment

Studies of sympathetic neuronsin vivo

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Summary

Vasa deferentia of rats chronically treated with high doses of guanethidine sulphate (30 or 60 mg/Kg/day i.p.) were examined using electron microscopic, fluorescence histochemical and pharmacological techniques. Counts of the axon population in segments of the proximal (urethral) end of the vas deferens showed a reduction to approximately 55% and 35% in the number of axon profiles after treatment for one week with the two dose levels respectively. In the same period only a few cell bodies in the hypogastric ganglion (from which most of the adrenergic innervation of the vas deferens arises) reached the stage of terminal degeneration. Although many axons showed some abnormalities, the number of axons observed in terminal stages of degeneration in treated tissue did not exceed, at any stage examined, the very small numbers observed in control tissue. Organ bath studies showed that the contractile response to transmural stimulation was lost fastest at the distal (epididymal) end of the treated vas deferens. These results have led to the conclusion that, in contrast to the degeneration of adrenergic axons produced by surgery or 6-hydroxydopamine, the sympathectomy produced by guanethidinein vivo involves theretraction of adrenergic axons prior to complete degeneration of the cell bodies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, 3052, Parkville, Vic., Australia

    John W. Heath, Barbara K. Evans & Geoffrey Burnstock

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  1. John W. Heath
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  2. Barbara K. Evans
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  3. Geoffrey Burnstock
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Additional information

This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the National Heart Foundation and the Australian Research Grants Committee. We are grateful to Mr. A.G. Willis and Dr. D.G. Satchell of the Zoology Department and to Prof. E.G. Williams, Statistics Department, University of Melbourne for valuable discussion, and to Caryl Hill for thorough criticism of the manuscript.

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Heath, J.W., Evans, B.K. & Burnstock, G. Axon retraction following guanethidine treatment. Z.Zellforsch 146, 439–451 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02347174

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