Abstract
Summary
Evidence is presented which demonstrates that neither virus activity nor lesions in the spinal cord are necessary pathogenetic factors for the production of the spasticity of acute poliomyelitis. In 2 rhesus monkeys inoculated intracerebrally with poliomyelitis virus and killed in the preparalytic period when marked spasticity was present in the muscles of the legs, as well as elsewhere, no lesions were present in complete serial sections of the lumbosacral cord. In an additional similar case it was also found that no virus was present in the lumbosacral cord. In all cases severe lesions were already present in most of the brain centers usually involved, and neuronal destruction was especially severe in the midbrain tegmentum, reticular formation of the hindbrain, and in the vestibular nuclei. It is concluded that lesions in the brain alone can produce the spasticity of acute poliomyelitis. The pathological origin of this symptom is discussed, and evidence cited for the possible causative role of lesions in brain stem centers, especially the reticular formation.
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