Purkinje cell injury, structural plasticity and fusion in patients with Friedreich’s ataxia

Table 2 Structural remodelling of Purkinje cell axons in both FRDA and control cases

Axonal change	Comparator	Control cases (Mean +/-SE (median))	FRDA cases (Mean +/-SE (median))	Significance (p value)
Hypertrophic axons	Length	0.279 +/- 0.216 (0.298)	1.642 +/- 0.659 (1.028)	p < 0.010
	Purkinje cells	0.016 +/- 0.007 (0.010)	0.054 +/- 0.018 (0.036)	p < 0.050
Hypertrophic recurrent collaterals	Length	0.115 +/- 0.038 (0.118)	0.457 +/- 0.143 (0.396)	p < 0.050
	Purkinje cells	0.003 +/- 0.001 (0.003)	0.015 +/- 0.004 (0.011)	p < 0.050
Arciform fibres	Length	0.029 +/- 0.014 (0.023)	0.158 +/- 0.052 (0.138)	p < 0.050
	Purkinje cells	0.001 +/- 0.001 (0.001)	0.005 +/- 0.001 (0.004)	p < 0.050
Axonal branching	Length	0.064 +/- 0.024 (0.060)	0.271 +/- 0.088 (0.261)	p = 0.082
	Purkinje cells	0.002 +/- 0.001 (0.002)	0.009 +/- 0.003 (0.006)	p < 0.050
Axonal sprouting	Length	0.062 +/- 0.027 (0.060)	0.226 +/- 0.078 (0.172)	p = 0.052
	Purkinje cells	0.002 +/- 0.001 (0.002)	0.006 +/- 0.001 (0.007)	p < 0.050

The frequency of axonal structural changes within the granular and Purkinje cell layers of both control and FRDA cases. All axonal changes are expressed as either frequency per standardized unit length of the Purkinje cell layer (100 μm) (Length) or frequency per Purkinje cell (Purkinje cells). Comparisons between control and FRDA were analysed using Mann-Whitney U tests

ISSN: 2051-5960