Experimental spinal cord repair (by means of direct connection of the above-the-lesion CNS with PNS).

There are no medical or surgical treatments able to repair traumatic paraplegia. Experiments done by connecting the above-the-lesion with the below-the-lesion cord by means of PNS grafts have always failed. The grafts are reinhabited by regrowing axons of the first motoneurons which however are not able to progress into the distal spinal cord. At the present state of knowledge no surgical treatment can cure paraplegia. Thousands of researchers are working all over the world in many different types of research ranging from molecular biology to embriology, and from biochemistry to pharmacology and surgery. None of these experiments have proved to be practically effective.

Alz-50 recognizes epitopes in primary sensory fibres and in neurons of the substantia gelatinosa of the spinal cord. An ultrastructural study in the rat.

The monoclonal antibody Alz-50 has been proposed as a marker for cellular pathological changes in Alzheimer's disease. However, it has been reported that this antibody also reacts with specific epitopes in normal individuals. Furthermore, intense Alz-50 immunoreactivity has been recently described in the hypothalamus and spinal cord of rat and monkey. In the present study, we analysed the distribution pattern of Alz-50 immunostaining in the spinal cord of the adult rat. Using light microscopy, immunostained fibres and varicosities were detected mainly in laminae I-II, although some immunostaining lamina I and the outer two thirds of lamina II. The varicosities appeared either scalloped or dome-shaped and contained numerous agranular synaptic vesicles and a few dense-core vesicles. Most varicosities were presynaptic to dendrites. A few immunostained cell bodies and dendrites were also observed, but glial cells were never immunostained. Some ultrathin sections were processed for postembedding immunogold detection of calcitonin gene-related peptide and GABA immunoreactivities. Most of the varicosities which were immunoreactive for Alz-50 also showed calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactivity. In contrast, GABA immunoreactivity was never co-localized with Alz-50 immunoreactivity. These results indicate that, in the superficial dorsal horn, the epitope recognized by the Alz-50 antibody is located mainly, but not exclusively, in primary sensory fibres.

Trapezio metacarpal instability and arthritis: etiopathogenetic interpretation and surgical technique.

Trapezio metacarpal joint (TMJ) arthritis depends on various etiologies including joint laxity, repetitive stresses, hypoplasia of the trapezium bone, and musculotendinous anomalies. The anatomy of the musculotendinous insertions described in textbooks is found very seldom in reality. Only in 2 cases out of 100 hand dissections did we find 1 abductor pollicis longus (APL) tendon. The number of tendons of the first wrist compartment averaged more than four, in different arrangements.