We demonstrated recently that uninjured C-fiber nociceptors in the L4 spinal nerve develop spontaneous activity after transection of the L5 spinal nerve. We postulated that Wallerian degeneration leads to an alteration in the properties of the neighboring, uninjured afferents from adjacent spinal nerves. To explore the role of degeneration of myelinated versus unmyelinated fibers, we investigat...

Axonal degeneration is a key pathological feature of several neurological disorders. Emerging evidence has suggested a pathological connection between axonal degeneration and autophagy, a lysosomal degradation pathway. We recently reported that GSK3B-mediated phosphorylation of MCL1 regulates axonal autophagy to promote axonal degeneration. GSK3B-MCL1 pathway affects ATP production locally in d...

Sudden death in a 66-year-old woman with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and exclusive metastatic involvement of the right stellate ganglion and right nerve vagus is reported. The patient also suffered from paroxysmal atrial fibrillation treated with quinidine. An autopsy showed exclusive metastases to the right stellate ganglion and vagus nerve, along with decreased nerve fibre dens...