[Disorders of neuronal migration in cerebral palsy]

We have analyzed 60 autopsy cases of cerebral palsy (CP) at the Aichi Prefectural Colony. The weight of the CP brains was distributed most frequently between 60 to 70% of normal brain weight. Coronal thin sections of the whole brains through the mammillary bodies were made using a large-sized miorotome and stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Klüver-Barerra (KB) stains. Macroscopically, CP brains were classified into microgyria-pachygyria type (45 cases), thin cerebral mantle type (10 cases), hydrocephalus type (3 cases), and lissencephalic type (2 cases). Macroscopic image analysis was performed using the KB-stained whole brain sections from the microgyria-pachygyria type CP brains, as well as 9 brains of control cases with non-neurological diseases and 4 brains with Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD). The CP brains showed narrowed white matter with dilated ventricles compared with the controls. Microscopic analysis showed that ectopic grey matter (about 16%), and disorganization of the cerebral cortex (about 50%), and neuronal depletion (about 50%). These findings suggest that some of the CP brains resulted from disturbance of neuronal migration.