triethyltin-sulfate and Edema

X-ray diffraction was used to probe the effects of triethyl tin (TET) on the periodicity and amount of membrane disorientation in the lamellar myelin from respiring optic and sciatic nerves in vitro as well as from nerves of rats treated in vivo through their drinking water. The diffraction patterns show that in vitro TET at concentrations of 4-100 microM affects C.N.S. but not P.N.S. myelin structure. A planar, concentric membrane array with a 200 A period is detected in the C.N.S.; this ordered, swollen myelin contrasts with the vacuolar and vesicular structure seen in thin-sections in TET-induced oedema. No effects of short-term in vivo treatment with TET are observed in either the C.N.S. or P.N.S. The finding that carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibitors have no effect on the TET-induced structural changes indicates that the swelling we observe is not related to a CA-dependent process. In comparison, the TET effect is prevented by replacing the mobile ions with isotonic sucrose. We conclude that TET-induced swelling in C.N.S. myelin arises from an increase in ion transport followed by obligatory fluid movement. Further, the ordered, swollen structure we detect may be an intermediate state that exists transiently in vivo in TET intoxication and that precedes the gross swelling and vacuolization usually observed.

Topics: Adenosine Triphosphatases; Animals; Edema; Myelin Sheath; Optic Nerve; Rats; Sciatic Nerve; Trialkyltin Compounds; Triethyltin Compounds; X-Ray Diffraction

Intraperitoneal injection of triethyl tin (TET) sulfate, 5 or 10 mg/kg body weight did not induce intramyelinic edema without altering water content in quaking mice while in C57BL/6J and littermate control mice, water content was increased and typical intramyelinic edema was induced following TET injection. Even among control mice, however, there were some strain differences in the histological severity of the edema, which were in precise agreement with the quantitative alterations in water content. These observations suggest that CNS myelin in quaking may differ qualitatively from that in controls and the mode of response to TET is under genetic control.

Topics: Animals; Drug Resistance; Edema; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains; Mice, Quaking; Species Specificity; Spinal Cord; Trialkyltin Compounds; Triethyltin Compounds