The distribution of MAG in association with the axonal lesions of canine progressive axonopathy

The distribution of myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) was examined by immunocytochemistry in the spinal cord, accessory cuneate nucleus and lumbar ventral nerve roots of dogs affected by progressive axonopathy. These areas were chosen because of the frequency of spheroids and the associated changes in the myelin sheath, including vacuolation, demyelination, remyelination and accumulation of a granular, amorphous material within the sheath. Normal animals demonstrated the expected distribution of MAG; periaxonal and associated with uncompacted membrane such as Schmidt-Lanterman incisures. The majority of early axonal spheroids were surrounded by a MAG-positive zone but in the larger swellings and longer duration cases this was sometimes absent in places even though the axon was associated with Schwann cell processes. Axons in vacuolated fibres were commonly surrounded by a single adaxonal process of Schwann cell and normal periaxonal space. This was immunoreactive for MAG but in situations where the process was incomplete or the space distorted, staining was absent. The granular material failed to stain for MAG. Distorted Schmidt-Lanterman incisures, a feature of the advanced disease, were strongly positive. In the CNS, spheroids without myelin sheaths or unassociated with oligodendroglial processes were negative for periaxonal MAG. The study confirms the localization of MAG at the periaxonal space. It also raises the question of how the distribution of periaxonal MAG is affected by axonal swelling with a consequent increase in axonal surface area.