A Golgi-Cox study of the hypoglossal nucleus of 'wobbler' and normal mice.

Morphological studies on the hypoglossal nucleus of 'wobbler' and control mice were carried out using the Golgi-Cox technique. In 'wobbler' mice, soma and dendrites of degenerating neurons were swollen and less darkly stained when compared with normal neurons; in addition, their membrane structure was disrupted. Neurons could not be distinguished by their shape, as they varied greatly. Using dendritic directional projections, neurons were classified into four main groups. In the normal mouse, three main classes of neurons are apparent, i.e., large, intermediate and small neurons measuring on the average 25, 16 and 9.5 mu, respectively. In the 'wobbler' sections, about 11 degenerating neurons with diameters ranging from 35 to 50 mu were clearly identified.