On the Effect of Centrophenoxine for the Lipofuscin in the Nerve Cells of the Aged Guinea Pigs

Abstract

Nandy and Bourne (1966) reported that the centrophenoxine (dimethylaminoacetyl-p-chlorophenoxy-acetate, Lucidril) showed an action to remove the lipofuscin from the aged guinea pig nerve cells. The purpose of this paper is to confirm the above result and to observe the ultrastructural changes of the lipofuscin by centrophenoxine administration.
After intraperitoneal injection of 20mg/ml solution of centrophlnoxine or physiological saline to the young (6 months-old) and the aged (2 years-old) guinea pigs for 90 or 127 days, the animals were sacrified and various organs were investigated light and electron microscopically. The electron microscopy was performed on the hypothalamus, thalamus, ammon horn, anterior horn of spinal cord.
Light microscopic observation revealed no change between centrophenoxine and saline groups in the amount of lipofuscin in the nerve cells of pontine trigeminal nucleus, hypothalamus and Purkinje cell layer of cerebellum. Electron microscopically, some lipofuscin granules showed vacuolation, especially in the anterior horn cells in both aged groups, with slightly high incidence in the centrophenoxine group. In the hypothalamus the amount of the monophasic type lipofuscin increased in the centrophenoxine group. The distribution of lipofuscin in the cytoplasm changed to rather disperse form than aggregated form in the anterior horn cells in the centrophenoxine group.
From above results the effect of centrophenoxine for dissolution and removal of lipofuscin in the nerve cell could not be confirmed, but some changes on the structure and distribution of lipofuscin were observed. It is uncertain, however, whether these changes are direct effect of centrophenoxine on the lipofuscin metabolism.