Axonal pathology in Japanese Guillain-Barré syndrome: a study of 15 autopsied cases

We assessed the frequency and extent of axonal involvement in the ventral spinal roots in 15 Japanese autopsied patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Teased-fiber preparation revealed that five had predominantly axonal pathology with minimal segmental demyelination, seven had predominantly segmental demyelination with minimal axonal changes, two patients showed a mixture of both conditions, and one patient did not show any particular pathologic changes. We confirmed axon loss by immunohistochemical analysis of high-molecular-weight neurofilament protein. Macrophage invasion was a prominent feature in nerves with predominantly axonal changes. Two patients with severe axonal involvement and prolonged clinical courses exhibited motor neuron loss with astrogliosis in the ventral horns. These results suggest that autopsy-verified axonal involvement is more frequent among Japanese GBS patients than in Caucasian populations but less frequent than that reported from northern China.