HISTOLOGY OF NERVOUS TISSUE

BY DR. MUDASSAR ALI ROOMI (MBBS, M. PHIL)

Peripheral Nervous System

The main components of the peripheral nervous system are the nerves, ganglia, and nerve endings.

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Nerve Fibers
Nerve fibers consist of axons enclosed within a special sheath of cells derived from the embryonic neural crest cells. *** peripheral nerves contain groups of nerve fibers. In peripheral nerve fibers, axons are sheathed by Schwann cells, also called neurolemmocytes . **** The sheath may or may not form myelin around the axons, depending on their diameter. Axons of small diameter are usually unmyelinated nerve fibers . Progressively thicker axons are generally sheathed by increasingly numerous concentric wrappings of the enveloping cell, forming the myelin sheaths. These fibers are known as myelinated nerve fibers.
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Myelinated Fibers
As axons of large diameter grow in the PNS, they are engulfed along their length by many undifferentiated neurolemmocytes and become myelinated nerve fibers. The plasma membrane of the covering neurolemmocyte (Schwann cell) fuses around the axon and becomes wrapped around the nerve fiber as the glial cell body moves around and around the axon many times. The multiple layers of Schwann cell membrane unite as a layer myelin, a whitish lipoprotein complex whose abundant lipid component is partly removed by standard histologic procedures.

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Myelinated Fibers (cont.)

With the TEM the myelin sheath can appear as a thick electron-dense cover in which individual membrane layers are seen. Membranes of Schwann cells have a higher proportion of lipids (80%) than do other cell membranes. Between adjacent Schwann cells the myelin sheath shows small nodal gaps along the axon, also called nodes of Ranvier. The length of axon covered by one Schwann cell is called the internodal segment and may be more than 1 millimeter. Unlike oligodendrocytes of the CNS, Schwann cells only form myelin around a portion of one axon.

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Process of myelination

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Process of myelination (cont.)

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Myelination of nerve fibers

In PNS In CNS

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Unmyelinated Fibers
The CNS is rich in unmyelinated axons which are not sheathed at all but run free among the other neuronal and glial processes. However in the PNS, even all unmyelinated axons are enveloped within simple folds of Schwann cells. In this situation the glial cell does not form multiple wrapping of itself as myelin. Unlike their association with individual myelinated axons, each Schwann cell can enclose portions of many unmyelinated axons with small diameters. Adjacent Schwann cells along unmyelinated nerve fibers do not form nodes of Ranvier.
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Degeneration and regeneration of nerve fibers

Injured fibers in peripheral nerves have a good capacity for regeneration and return of function. In a wounded nerve fiber, it is important to distinguish changes occurring proximal to the injury from those in the distal segment. The proximal segment maintains its continuity with the trophic center in the perikaryon and can regenerate, while the distal segment, separated from the nerve cell body, degenerates. This is called as Wallerian degeneration

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Degeneration and regeneration of nerve fibers (Cont.)

The onset of regeneration is accompanied by changes in the perikaryon: chromatolysis or dissolution of the RER and a consequent decrease in cytoplasmic basophilia; an increase in the volume of the perikaryon; and migration of the nucleus to a peripheral position in the perikaryon. The proximal segment of the axon degenerates close to the wound for a short distance, but growth starts as soon as debris is removed by macrophages. Macrophages produce cytokines which stimulate Schwann cells. In the nerve segment distal to the injury the axon and myelin, but not the connective tissue, degenerate completely and are removed by macrophages. While these regressive changes take place, Schwann cells proliferate within the connective tissue sleeve, giving rise to rows of cells that serve as guides for the sprouting axons formed during the reparative phase.

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MEDICAL APPLICATION
When there is an extensive gap between the distal and proximal segments of cut or injured peripheral nerves, or when the distal segment disappears altogether (as in the case of amputation of a limb), the newly growing axons may form a swelling, or neuroma, that can be the source of spontaneous pain.

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