A Golgi study on the red nucleus in man

The different cell types comprising the human red nucleus (RN) from eight patients without neuronal diseases were investigated using the Golgi- Braitenberg method for long-stored autopsy material. No giant cells were found due to regression of the magnicellular part of the human RN. We found larger (40 - 50 pm) and smaller (30 pm perikaryon size) medium-sized multipolar neurons with long dendrites, mushroom spines and typical dista1 dendritic tufts. The larger medium-sized RN neurons had some brushshaped dendritic end portions which could not be observed in the Golgi studies on various other mammals described in the literature. We additionally found small neurons with a perikaryon size of 15 pm. These cells were thought to be intrinsic neurons similar to those in animal investigations. The neuronal types found in the normal human RN corresponded to those in the parvicellular part of the mammalian RN. Dendritic end brushes, however. are typical only for the human RN

Pathological changes in dendrites of substantia nigra neurons in Parkinson's disease: a Golgi study

Neurons of the substantia nigra show severe morphological changes in Parkinson's disease. Pathological alterations of cell bodies have been described, whereas those of neuronal processes have hardly been investigated. Golgi impregnation has been the chosen method for demonstrating neuronal processes and dendritic and somatic spines. We therefore used the Golgi-Braitenberg method to qualitatively and semi-quantitatively study the substantia nigra of eight patients with Parkinson's disease compared with eight control cases. Golgi impregnation of substantia nigra neurons was good in al1 control cases. In full agreement with the analysis of Braak and Braak (1986) three neuronal types within the substantia nigra were found. In cases of Parkinson's disease, severe pathological changes such as decrease of dendritic length, loss of dendritic spines and severa1 types of dendritic varicosities were found only in the melanin-containing pars compacta neurons. Pars reticulata nerve cells were intact. These findings support the predominant role played by the dopaminergic efferent pathway in the degenerative process. The afferent pathway was not affected. This suggests that the substantia nigra lesion is primary in Parkinson's disease. Loss of neurons found in H & E sections corresponded to a lesser amount of impregnated pars compacta neurons in cases with Parkinson's disease when compared to controls. Evidences exist that the duration of the disease may be related to the extent of pathologically altered Golgi-impregnated pars compacta cells. The amount of Lewy bodies in H & E sections corresponded to the quantity of round varicosities in impregnated pars compacta neurons. These round dendritic varicosities were considered to be Lewy body inclusions. They seem to have no influence on the dendritic spine density and morphology in most cases

Impact of Atmospheric Uncertainties on GRACE De-Aliasing and Gravity Field Models

The GRACE de-aliasing process is summarized and the effect of uncertainties in the atmospheric input parameters is investigated

Precision measurement of the structure of the CMS inner tracking system using nuclear interactions

The structure of the CMS inner tracking system has been studied using nuclear interactions of hadrons striking its material. Data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded in 2015 at the LHC are used to reconstruct millions of secondary vertices from these nuclear interactions. Precise positions of the beam pipe and the inner tracking system elements, such as the pixel detector support tube, and barrel pixel detector inner shield and support rails, are determined using these vertices. These measurements are important for detector simulations, detector upgrades, and to identify any changes in the positions of inactive elements