[Retrograde degeneration of autonomic neurons and other cell groups of the spinal cord following extirpation the thoracic sympathetic ganglia].

Examination of vegetative, as well as sensitive and motor spinal neurons after surgery performed on the peripheral part of the vegetative nervous system in the thoracic cavity of 34 dogs reveals reactive and degenerative changes in the nerve cells. Alterations in the neuronal structure are already observed on the 7th day after the operation and they reach thir maximum on the 60th day. During the time mentioned, most of the nervous cells undergo a complete pyknosis; among them, however, there are neurons restoring their normal structure. Therefore, it is possible to believe that after operations on the thoracic cavity, certain morphological disturbances occur in the corresponding vegetative centers, which are followed by disorders in the nervous regulation of the internal organs after the operation.