The methods for pathological assessment of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system differ, and there are also differences in the level of cellular resolution routinely achieved in screening techniques. In the PNS, plastic-embedded sections and teased nerve fibers from multiple regions provide satisfactory screening techniques; in the CNS, differential staining of paraffin sections provides the most practical screening approach. In both the CNS and PNS, the basic pathological processes are similar; these include Wallerian degeneration, distal axonal degeneration, and primary demyelination. In the future, new screening techniques based on immunocytochemical analyses and measurement of specific mRNA levels can be anticipated.
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