Intracellular calcium deposition in brain following electrical stimulation

The effects of electrical stimulation of the cat cerebral cortex have been evaluated by light and electron microscopy following a wide variety of stimulation parameters (QD/ph of 10 - 300 muC/cm2/ph). Platinum or rhodium disc electrode arrays were bilaterally implanted subdurally on the parietal cortex and subjected to 36-hour stimulations (9 hrs./day for 4 days). Prominent among the degenerative changes shown by electron microscopy were dense crystalline inclusions that were identified as calcium hydroxyapatite (CHA) crystals by electron diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The appearance of intracellular calcification generally paralleled the onset of other degenerative changes in stimulated tissue, including gliosis, mitochondrial swelling, lipid inclusions, degenerating cells, neuronal loss, and phagocytic activity. A preferential deposition of calcium was noted in mitochondria of several cell types and in postsynaptic dendrites. The mechanism of the apparently electroresponsive calcium deposition is obscure; however, a plausible explanation is that increased cyclic AMP levels, known to occur with electrical stimulation of nervous tissue, result in enhanced calcium plasmalemmal permeability.