Schmidt-Lanterman incisures. II. A light and electron microscope study of remyelinating peripheral nerve fibres.

A mechanism has been proposed previously for the formation of Schmidt-Lanterman incisures during ontogeny as myelinated nerve fibres increase in diameter. In this study, the mode of formation of incisures and their development were examined by light and electron microscopy in remyelinating fibres (16-200 d) of the sural nerve of rats following lysophosphatidyl choline (LPC)-induced segmental demyelination. In remyelination, a basic number of incisures is incorporated into the myelin sheath ab initio. Apparently these incisures which are at first circumferentially incomplete, being localised to the region of the mesaxons, progressively extend around the whole circumference of the myelin sheath. As fibre diameter increases, additional incisures are added, seemingly, by the intrusion of Schwann cell cytoplasm between the compact myelin lamellae, from the abaxonal side of the myelin sheath. The progressive differentiation of incisures is described in terms of their complement of organelles. The results are discussed with reference to the possible functions of incisures.