Morphometric study of the neurons in the medial mammillary nucleus in acute and chronic Wernicke's encephalopathy.

A morphometric study was made of the neurons in the medial mammillary nucleus from 25 cases of Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE) and from 15 other cases (control group) in which hepatic or brain disease was excluded and the risk factors associated with WE were not present. The whole area of the mammillary body was also measured in all cases from both groups. The cases of WE were divided into acute and chronic. A highly significant reduction in the area of the mammillary body was noted in the chronic WE group, when compared to the control and acute WE cases. Although no significant differences were detected between the three groups with regard to the total number of neurons of medial mammillary nucleus, cell density was significantly higher in the chronic WE group, when compared to the control and acute WE cases. A significant reduction was noted in the nuclear volume of the neurons in the chronic cases of WE, when compared to the acute WE cases. The positive correlation between the area of the mammillary body and the nuclear volume of the neurons in the medial mammillary nucleus was highly significant for the WE group and significant for the control and chronic WE groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)