A case of gastric tetany, with an account of the microscopic appearances found in the medulla and spinal cord / by Walter K. Hunter, M.D., B.Sc., Assistant Physician, Royal Infirmary ... from Dr. Lindsay Steven's Wards in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

  • Hunter, Walter King.
Date:
[1899]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case of gastric tetany, with an account of the microscopic appearances found in the medulla and spinal cord / by Walter K. Hunter, M.D., B.Sc., Assistant Physician, Royal Infirmary ... from Dr. Lindsay Steven's Wards in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    11/18 (page 89)
    a (leo-enerative cliaiio-e ? Such a view has Ijeeii advanced. But aiiotlier explanation, namely, that the pio-ment is the result or evidence of functional activity in the cell, is the one Avhich seems to have obtained the more support. Bevan Lewis tells us that a deposit of yellow ])igment is a constant appear- ance in healthy ganglion cells, and that it indicates a state of physiological activity rather than a pathological degeneration. He also points out that in the ganglion cells from cases of senile atrophy there is diminution of this pigment, while in cases of mania and epileptic insanity, where there was great motor excitement, the pigment is on the other hand excessive. He considers, therefore, that the pigment in ganglion cells is a sign of by-gone functional activity. If this, then, be so, the excessive amount of pigment in the ganglion cells of this case simply means that there has been a hyperactivity in their corresponding muscle fibres ; and of this hyperactivity of the muscles the above report gives ample illustration. According to this view, then, tetany must be due to some poison which has a specially stimulating action on motor nerve cells, the activity of these ganglion cells being represented b}^ an increase in their yellow pigment, and their liyperactivity b}’' an excessive amount of this pigment as in the cells described above. But if this yellow pigment in the cell is evidence of by-gone activity, it must also mean a present incapacity, for we have seen that the pigmentation in many of tlie cells was so extreme as to entirely displace the Xissl bodies. Now, much importance is attached to tlve presence of these Nissl bodies, for they are thought to represent tlie functional potentiality of tlie cell, either in tlve form of nutrition, or as energy, or as both these combined. Whichever it may be, it seems sufficiently clear that the loss of the Nissl bodies niu.st affect the function of the cell, be it that of a trophic centre or of a motor centre. And so it may be that, after all, this excess of pigment does represent the fatal lesion. This extreme pigmentation of the ganglion cells is to all intents and purposes just another form of chromatolysis, by means of which the cell becomes a pigmented cell in place of becoming a “ ghost cell.” And careful examination