The influence of protein-calorie malnutrition on the development of paranodal regions in spinal roots. A study with the OTAN method on rat.

During the early postnatal development of spinal roots in rats paranodal regions were often found, containing OTAN-positive inclusions in the Schwann cell cytoplasm. The presence of OTAN-positive paranodal regions showed variations in time, which were synchronous for ventral and dorsal roots. Dorsal roots, however, showed a more marked presence during development than ventral roots. Spinal roots of animals submitted to a 50% food restriction, were shown to contain more OTAN-positive paranodal regions than controls. This was true for ventral as well as dorsal roots. It is suggested that crowding of internodal segments could be one factor, determining the presence of paranodal, OTAN-positive material.