Experimental squalene encephaloneuropathy in the rat.

To investigate the influence of squalene on the nervous system, adult male Wistar rats were injected with squalene subcutaneously with 20 g/kg of the body weight for 4 consecutive days. After 7 or 30 days from the initiation of the experiment, brain and ischiadic nerves were harvested for electron microscopy. Squalene affected mostly PNS targeting Schwann cells and myelin sheaths. Accumulation of lipid-like droplets in the myelin sheaths in the PNS and in the neurons in the brain cortex, hypertrophy of endothelium, and sometimes endothelial apoptosis in blood vessels, and increased synthesis of collagen in the ischiadic nerve were characteristic for developed squalene encephaloneuropathy.