Experimental Demyelination by Means of Enzymes, Especially the Alpha Toxin of Clostridium Welchii

DEMYELINATING diseases still constitute one of the major problems of neurology, and the lack of knowledge concerning their etiology is a constant handicap to rational therapy. The various manifestations of myelin degradation, as observed in the different demyelinating diseases, have been explained by divers causes: mechanical, chemical, infectious, immunologic and hereditary. The variety of mechanisms underlying the breakdown of myelin apparently is so great that one wonders with Hurst 1 whether is not a type of response of the nervous system to noxious stimuli of multiple causation. On the other hand, it may be that demyelination itself is not always precisely the same thing. The order of events and the extent of degradation may not always be identical in the demyelinating process, and the implications of these variations may be significant. It was shown in 1931 2 that experimental venous thrombosis might act as a contributory cause of demyelination.