This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal

Significance of Aqueductal Changes

Colin Masters, MB; Michael Alpers, MB; Byron Kakulas, MD

Arch Neurol. 1977;34(1):18-28.

Abstract
• The pathogenesis of hydrocephalus following reovirus type 1 inoculation of neonatal mice has been examined by light microscopy, radiology, immunofluorescence, and electron microscopy. The reovirus infection causes an acute ependymitis and leptomeningitis, followed by a fibrous arachnoiditis and arachnoid villitis. Hydrocephalus develops in proportion to the degree of inflammatory/fibrotic changes within the cerebrospinal fluid pathways. With the beginning of hydrocephalus there is radiographic evidence of basal cistern blockage. As the hydrocephalic state progresses, axial herniation and compression of the midbrain result in the appearance of aqueduct stenosis. We demonstrate that the stenosis of the aqueduct is a secondary phenomenon, not causally related to the pathogenesis of hydrocephalus, and discuss the significance of this finding to human aqueduct stenosis.

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Pathology (Drs Masters and Kakulas) and Microbiology (Dr Alpers), University of Western Australia, Nedlands.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication June 15, 1976.

Reprint requests to c/o E.P. Richardson, MD, Neuropathology Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114 (Dr Masters).

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Distinct pathways of viral spread in the host determined by reovirus S1 gene segment
Tyler et al.
Science 1986;233:770-774.
ABSTRACT