Stenosis of the central canal of the spinal cord following inoculation of suckling hamsters with reovirus type I.

The central canal of the human spinal cord is partially or completely occluded in the vast majority of individuals by the early years of adult life. The authors describe an experimental lesion following virus-induced ependymitis that bears a striking resemblance to the condition in man. Suckling hamsters were inoculated with 0.06 ml of 10(-3) infectivity titer of reovirus type I between the 2nd and 5th days of life. The pathological events consisted of necrotizing ependymitis, healing of the ependyma by gliovascular scarring, and obstruction of narrow bottlenecks such as the central canal. Histological findings were characterized by disorganization of the ependyma, formation of ependymal rosettes and microtubules, subependymal gliovascular scarring, and intracanalicular gliosis. These features are the same as those encountered clinically and provide strong evidence that stenosis of the central canal in man is a pathological lesion involving ependymal injury and scarring.