Departments of Physiology and of Bacteriology and Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
J Exp Med. 1942 May 1;75(5):465-80. doi: 10.1084/jem.75.5.465.
Local tetanus limited to one leg was studied in cats after intramuscular injection of tetanus toxin. 1. The electric and mechanical response of the affected muscle after a single stimulus to the intact sensory-motor nerve is greater in amplitude and duration than the response of the corresponding muscle of the unaffected leg (Fig. 1). 2. This augmented response of the muscle is associated with an augmented response arising from the ipsilateral portion of the spinal cord, while the contralateral part of the cord is unaffected, as demonstrated by electrographic records from the motor nerves (Figs. 2 to 5). 3. The augmented muscular response is abolished when the reflex arc is broken, but the augmented response in the spinal cord is independent of changes in the muscle, the neuromuscular junction, the afferent and efferent peripheral nerves, and the dorsal root ganglia. 4. The augmented spinal response develops in the absence of the peripheral signs of local tetanus. Hence the pathogenesis of the altered state in the spinal cord is independent of the peripheral effects of the toxin. 5. In local tetanus, therefore, the toxin injected intramuscularly acts selectively upon the segments of the spinal cord which supply the innervation of the injected area. 6. The augmented spinal response may be prevented by section of the nerve trunks supplying the area of injection prior to the injection of the toxin. 7. It is concluded that in local tetanus the toxin is carried to the spinal cord by way of peripheral nerves.
在给猫肌肉内注射破伤风毒素后，研究了局限于一条腿的局部破伤风。1. 在完整的感觉运动神经受到单次刺激后，受累肌肉的电和机械反应的幅度和持续时间均大于未受累腿相应肌肉的反应（图 1）。2. 这种肌肉的增强反应与来自脊髓同侧部分的增强反应有关，而脊髓对侧部分不受影响，这可以通过运动神经的电图记录（图 2 至 5）证明。3. 当反射弧被打断时，增强的肌肉反应被消除，但脊髓中的增强反应独立于肌肉、神经肌肉接头、传入和传出周围神经以及背根神经节的变化。4. 在局部破伤风中没有出现外周征象的情况下，增强的脊髓反应发展。因此，脊髓中改变状态的发病机制与毒素的外周效应无关。5. 因此，在局部破伤风中，肌肉内注射的毒素选择性地作用于供应注射区域支配的脊髓节段。6. 在注射毒素之前，通过切断供应注射区域的神经干，可以预防增强的脊髓反应。7. 结论是，在局部破伤风中，毒素通过周围神经被带到脊髓。
