A quantitative study of intermediolateral column cells in motor neuron disease and the Shy-Drager syndrome

The intermediolateral column neurons in the lateral horns of the grey matter of the thoracic spinal cord were counted in five patients who had died of motor neuron disease, two of the Shy-Drager syndrome and three of other neurological diseases not affecting the spinal cord or roots. The number of intermediolateral column cells in all the motor neuron disease cases was slightly reduced compared with the control cords, this difference being apparent both when the whole thoracic sympathetic outflow was assessed as well as its upper, middle and lower thirds. The difference, however, was not statistically significant. By contrast, in Shy-Drager cases there was a highly significant reduction in intermediolateral column cells compared with the normal cords.