ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDIES OF 4 CASES OF SUBACUTE SCLEROSING LEUCOENCEPHALITIS

Four cases of S.S.L.E are reported. The electron microscopy findings show: 1. Tubulary inclusion bodies: They appear in three cases out of four, either in neuronal and glial nucleus or in axis cylinders. Their morphological features are similar to the nucleocapsides of myxoviruses and particularly measles-virus. 2. Other different types of nonspecific inclusions: nuclear bodies, cristalline-like rods and fibrillar bundles which may be considered as the result of a nuclear metabolic disorder, osmiophilic particles which may be seen as the result of a cellular intracytoplasmic hyperactivity. The tubules are found whatever the duration of the disease (3 months up to 5 years) may be. This might indicate that there is no autosterilization of the virus in the C.N.S. during the course of S.S.L.E. According to the most recent papers, such a disease might be interpreted as an infection indirectly induced by measles-virus with an unknown immunologic or metabolic mechanism. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.