Histopathologic study of novel inclusions in the ependymal cells of the caudal medulla and spinal cord

泛素阳性包涵体(UbIs)在室管膜细胞中的研究还很少。由于我们在研究神经退行性疾病的尿路感染时，在脊髓和延髓尾段的中央管内遇到了这样的尿路感染，我们对46例患者(25种神经系统疾病和7例非神经疾病患者)进行了各种染色方法的检查和脊髓中央管和延髓尾段的室管室管膜的检查。我们还检查了侧脑室和第三脑室、脑导水管和第四脑室的室管膜。μ位于室管膜细胞的胞浆内，圆形至椭圆形，直径2~8 UBI m。室管膜残留巢中也偶尔发现尿路感染。UBI对有无消化的高碘酸席夫染色呈轻度反应，但不被其他方法染色，包括苏木精-伊红染色。除泛素抗体外，尿路感染对其他抗体均无反应。在46例各种神经系统疾病患者中有36例发现了尿路感染，在7例非神经系统疾病中有7例发现了尿路感染，因此对任何特定疾病都没有特异性。尿路感染多见于脊髓和尾侧延髓中央管室管室管膜细胞，仅见于侧脑室、第三脑室和第四脑室。室管膜尿路损伤的意义目前尚不清楚。中央管和残存的室管膜细胞并不表现出活跃的室管膜功能，因此在这些不活跃的部位频繁地出现UBI可能表明UBI代表了室管膜细胞发生的一些退行性改变。

Ubiquitin-positive inclusion (UbIs) have not been well studied in the ependymal cells yet. Since we encountered such UbIs in the central canals of the spinal cords and caudal medullae while investigating UbIs in neurodegenerative diseases, we investigated the UbIs by performing various staining methods and examining the ependymas of the central canals of the spinal cords and caudal medullas of 46 patients with 25 kinds of neurological diseases and 7 non-neurological controls. We also examined the ependymas of the lateral and 3rd ventricles, cerebral aqueduct, and 4th ventricles. The UbIs were located in the cytoplasm of the ependymal cells, round to oval in shape, measuring 2 to 8 μm in diameter. UbIs were also occasionally found in ependymal residual nests. The UbIs were mildly reactive to periodic acid Schiff staining with and without digestion, but not stained by other methods including hematoxylin and eosin staining. The UbIs were unreactive to various antibodies other than those to ubiquitin. UbIs were found in 36 out of 46 patients with various neurological diseases, and in 7 out of 7 non-neurological diseases, thus not specific to any particular diseases. UbIs were most often observed in the ependymal cells of the central canals of the spinal cords and caudal medullae, and only a few UbIs in the lateral, 3rd and 4th ventricles. The significance of the ependymal UbIs is unclear at present. The central canals and remnant ependymal cells do not appear to active ependymal function, so that the frequent presence of UbIs at such inactive sites may indicates that UbIs represent some degenerative changes which occurred to ependymal cells.