IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON CLUSTERED PERICAPILLARY BODIES IN THE SPINAL-CORD OF POSTPOLIOMYELITIS PATIENTS

This report concerns the study of clustered pericapillary bodies in th e spinal cords of four post-poliomyelitis patients. All four had stabl e neurological deficits without new neurological symptoms after the in itial poliomyelitis infection. Spinal cords from seven individuals who died of non-neurological disorders served as controls. Lumbar spinal segments were examined by using conventional staining procedures and i mmunohistochemical techniques. The histological features of the perica pillary structures were similar to those of the previously described p ericapillary rosettes. The number of pericapillary bodies was striking ly greater in one post-poliomyelitis patient (a man who died at age 48 ) than in the other three. The great majority of the pericapillary str uctures were within the areas of the poliomyelitis lesions. A small nu mber of the abnormal structures were detected in the lumbar spinal cor d of three control individuals. The clustered pericapillary bodies wer e immunostained by antibodies to phosphorylated neurofilament, synapto physin, and ubiquitin, but not by antibodies to glial fibrillary acidi c protein, tau protein, and paired helical filaments. These results in dicate that the structures may derive from presynaptic terminals and p reterminal axons, and that their formation may be related, albeit not necessarily in a specific fashion, to the poliomyelitis disease proces s.