Wallerian degeneration

Wallerian degeneration
Wal·le·ri·an degeneration wä-'lir-ē-ən- n degeneration of nerve fibers that occurs following injury or disease and that progresses from the place of injury along the axon away from the cell body while the part between the place of injury and the cell body remains intact
Wal·ler 'wäl-ər Augustus Volney (1816-1870)
British physiologist. Waller began in private practice, but after several years he decided to devote full time to research, first in Bonn and then in Paris. For a time he was professor of physiology in Birmingham, England. He is best known for pioneering a major technique for unraveling the complex structure of the nervous system using the type of nerve degeneration that is now associated with his name. By cutting the nerves in the frog's tongue, Waller discovered in 1849 that degeneration occurred throughout the axon's distal segment, and he concluded from this that the nerve cell body is the axon's source of nutriment. The method became a major means of tracing the origin and course of nerve fibers and tracts.

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degeneration of a ruptured nerve fibre that occurs within the nerve sheath distal to the point of severance.
A. V. Waller (1816-70), British physician

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a type of neurodegeneration consisting of fatty degeneration of a nerve fiber that has been severed from its nutritive centers; cf. dying-back. Called also secondary d.

Wallerian degeneration. Electron micrograph of a markedly distended, degenerating axon (arrow), containing numerous degenerating organelles and dense bodies, adjacent to intact, unmyelinated fibers (arrowheads).


Medical dictionary. 2011.

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Wallerian degeneration — is a process that results when a nerve fiber is cut or crushed, in which the part of the axon separated from the neuron s cell nucleus degenerates. [ [http://missinglink.ucsf.edu/lm/ids 104 cns injury/Response%20 to… …   Wikipedia

  • Wallerian degeneration — Wal*le ri*an de*gen er*a tion (Med.) A form of degeneration occurring in nerve fibers as a result of their division; so called from Dr. Waller, who published an account of it in 1850. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Wallerian degeneration — degeneration of a ruptured nerve fibre that occurs within the nerve sheath distal to the point of severance [V. Waller (1816–70), British physician] …   The new mediacal dictionary

  • wallerian degeneration — wäˈlirēən , wȯˈlirēən noun Usage: usually capitalized W Etymology: wallerian from Augustus V. Waller died 1870 English physiologist + English an : a degeneration of nerve fibers that follows injury or disease and progresses from the seat of… …   Useful english dictionary

  • wallerian — Relating to or described by A.V. Waller. * * * wal·le·ri·an (wah leґre ən) named for Augustus Volney Waller, English physiologist, 1816–1870, as wallerian degeneration …   Medical dictionary

  • Дегенерация Уоллеровская (Wallerian Degeneration) — жировая дистрофия поврежденного нервного волокна, развивающаяся внутри оболочки нерва, дистальнее зоны повреждения нерва. Источник: Медицинский словарь …   Медицинские термины

  • degeneration — 1. Deterioration; passing from a higher to a lower level or type. 2. A worsening of mental, physical, or moral qualities. 3. A retrogressive pathologic change in cells or tissues, in consequence of which their functions are often impaired or… …   Medical dictionary

  • ascending degeneration — wallerian degeneration of centripetal nerve fibers that progresses toward the brain or spinal cord …   Medical dictionary

  • descending degeneration — wallerian degeneration that progresses peripherally along nerve fibers …   Medical dictionary

  • secondary degeneration — wallerian d …   Medical dictionary

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