Sequential loss of myelin proteins during Wallerian

Axons undergo Wallerian degeneration (WD) distal to a point of injury. In the lesioned PNS, WD may be followed by successful axonal regeneration and functional recov-ery. However, in the lesioned mammalian CNS, there is no significant axonal regeneration. Myelin-associated pro-teins (MAPs) have been shown to play significant roles in preventing axonal regeneration in the CNS. Since relat-ively little is known about such events in human CNS pathologies, we performed an immunohistochemical investigation on the temporal changes of four MAPs dur-ing WD in post-mortem spinal cords of 22 patients who died 2 days to 30 years after either cerebral infarction or traumatic spinal cord injury. In contrast to experimental studies in rats, the loss of myelin sheaths is greatly delayed in humans and continues slowly over a number of years