Lesions in peripheral nerves from 12 goats poisoned experimentally with coyotillo were studied by light and electron microscopy. The goats were poisoned with daily oral doses of the ground coyotillo fruits and killed at various times after the first day of dosing.
Lesions at a mid-femoral site of the sciatic nerve included swelling of Schwann cells, degeneration of mitochondria, depletion of glycogen, splitting of myelin, segmental demyelination, and Wallerian degeneration. The results were suggestive of primary mitochondrial injury in Schwann cells with resultant impaired active transport, intracellular edema, splitting of myelin, and segmental demyelination.
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