Abstract
Sural nerve biopsy was carried out in eight patients with Duchenne type progressive muscular dystrophy.
The light microscopic examination revealed the thinning of myelin sheaths and the widening of Schmidt-Lantermann's incisures in four patients. In these cases, silver impregnations showed the beading and fragmentation of axis cylinders.
In quantitative nerve fiber study, the diameters of myelinated fibers were smaller than those of normal in two patients out of four examined. But the apparent loss of nerve fibers was absent.
In teased-fiber study, many myelinated nerve fibers were seen to have thin myelin sheaths. Fibers undergoing segmental demyelination or axonal degeneration were not seen.
