Pathobiology of cortical neurons in metabolic and unclassified amentias

Visualization of the neuron in its entirety through the use of the rapid Golgi method has permitted detection of several pathobiological features of neurons that are intimately associated with profound mental retardation in infants and children. In cases of unclassified mental retardation, dendrites and particularly dendritic spines exhibit severe developmental abnormalities. Dendritic spines, the postsynaptic components of axospinodendritic synapses, may be absent or abnormally long and thin in retardates. Evidence is presented that some cases of progressive neurobehavioral deterioration in infancy and early childhood may be due to progressive degeneration of dendritic spine systems (dendritic spine "dysgenesis"). Golgi and electron microscopic studies of neurons in human and feline ganglioside storage diseases indicate that ganglioside accumulation in cortical neurons initiates several complex alterations in neuronal geometry and morphology. Small and medium pyramidal cells form massive structural compartments (meganeurites) that frequently give rise to secondary neurites and other embryonic growth processes. Meganeurites may possess spines and spine-synapses. Other cells such as large pyramidal neurons may exhibit many somatic spines, whereas intrinsic cells of the cortex (and caudate) are unaffected morphologically by ganglioside accumulation. It is suggested that neuronal geometry distortion and aberrant synaptogenesis are important factors in the onset of neuronal dysfunction in ganglioside storage disorders. These studies also point to an important role of gangliosides in neurite formation in immature mammalian cortical neurons. Perisomatic processes and somatic spines are normal morphological components of the cell body of Purkinje cells through the 28th fetal week of human gestation. By 36 weeks the Purkinje cell somas exhibit a smooth surface contour. Prominent polydendritic processes, perisomatic protuberances, and somatic spines are detectable by Golgi methods applied to Purkinje cells in Menkes' disease and Down's syndrome long after these somatic components should normally disappear. Thus Purkinje cell soma membrane differentiation is a particularly sensitive process that can provide information on mechanisms of site-specific membrane regulation.