[Infiltration of India ink from subarachnoid space to nasal mucosa along olfactory nerves in rabbits].

The mode of the transportation of India ink to the nasal cavity was studied when it was given to the subarachnoid space chiefly through facial nerve sheath and partly by cisterna magna injection. From subarachnoid space India ink infiltrated through perineurium, epineurium and perineural space of the fila olfactoria and of olfactory nerve fibers to lamina propria of the olfactory mucosa and spread also to the respiratory mucosa. It was further taken into lymphatic vessels and accumulated in bilateral cervical lymph nodes. In normal rabbits, India ink didn't penetrate the basement membrane into the epithelial layer at all, but in rabbits with chronic rhinitis showing edema, degeneration and destruction of mucosa, India ink was found to pass easily through the basement membrane into the epithelial layer and further to leak into the nasal cavity in all cases. It was a new finding that in cases with rhinitis large particles like India ink could infiltrate from the subarachnoid space to the nasal cavity passing through the nasal mucosa, and was considered to be a possible cause of idiopathic cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea.