Diagnostic
Criteria
Rosner Rebuttal
Central Nervous System
Compare Symptoms
Dr. Heffez Information
Introduction to NFRA
NFRA Symposiums
Awareness Pin
Gifts and Memorials
Calendar of Events
Resources & Web Links
Patient Organizations
Distribution
of Substance P in the Spinal Cord of
Patients With Syringomyelia
Thomas
H. Milhorat, M.D., Harrison T. M. Mu, M.D.,
Carole C. LaMotte, Ph.D., and Ade T. Milhorat, M.D.
Department
of Neurosurgery, State University of New York Health Science Center at
Brooklyn and the Kings County Hospital Center, Brooklyn, New York; Departments
of Surgery and Anesthesiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New
York, New York
The
distribution of substance P, a putative neurotransmitter and pain-related
peptide, was studied using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistochemical
method in the spinal cords obtained from autopsy of 0 patients with syringomyelia
and 10 age- and sec-matched, neurologically normal individuals.
Substance P immunoreactivity was present in axons and in terminal-like
processes in close apposition to neurons in the first, second, and third
laminae of the dorsal horn. Smaller amounts of peroxidase-positive staining were found in the
fifth lamina of the dorsal horn, the intermediolateral nucleus, the intermediomedial
nucleus, and the ventral horn. In nine of 10 patients with syringomyelia, there was a substantial
increase in substance P immunoreactivity in the first, second, third,
and fifth laminae below the level of the lesion.
A marked reduction or absence of staining was present in segments
of the spinal cord occupied by the syrinx.
Central cavities produced bilateral abnormalities, whereas eccentric
cavities produced changes that were ipsilateral to the lesion.
No alterations in staining were found in the spinal cord of an
asymptomatic patient with a small central syrinx.
The authors conclude that syringomyelia can be associated with
abnormalities in spinal cord levels of substance P, which may affect the
modulation and perception of pain.
Presented at the National Fibromyalgia Research Association's Subgroups in Fibromyalgia Symposium, September 26-27, 1999, in Portland, Oregon.
National Fibromyalgia
Research Association
PO Box 500, Salem, OR 97302
