Crystalline inclusions in the nuclear envelope and granular endoplasmic reticulum of the fish spinal cord.

Crystalline inclusions were found in the nuclear envelope and granular endoplasmic reticulum of spinal cord oligodendroglia of the common guppy (Poecilia reticulata) and the lungfish (Polypterus enlicheri). A considerably increased incidence of these inclusions was noted in guppies with congenital and hereditary (sex-linked, recessive) lordosis. Identical crystalline inclusions were observed in protoplasmic and fibrous astrocytes, ependymal cells, and capillary endothelial cells of the spinal cord of the lordotic fish. The oligodendroglia in these fish also revealed a prominent alteration of the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, with the accumulation of dense (secretion?) granules and large amounts of electron-opaque material in markedly dilated sacs of the endoplasmic reticulum. The authors postulate that this alteration is caused by a genetic defect in the control mechanism governing the elaboration of this material in the lordotic guppy, with subsequent stasis and crystallization of this material.