Incapacitating autonomic neuropathy precipitated by taxol.

Taxol is one of the more significant advances in cancer chemotherapy in the last 10-15 years with a 30-50% response rate in both breast and ovarian cancers. The toxicity profile of taxol is still evolving as changes in the dosing and scheduling of the drug are instituted. We herein present the first evidence of taxol-induced quantifiable, objective autonomic neuropathy in two patients, one with and one without diabetes.

Neuromuscular junction development in the cutaneous pectoris muscle of Rana catesbeiana.

Synaptic specializations were studied in the developing cutaneous pectoris muscle of Rana catesbeiana tadpoles and froglets to correlate nerve terminal morphology (by light and electron microscopy), accumulation of acetylcholine receptors, and the ability of the muscle to contract following nerve stimulation. This correlated approach was used to determine the developmental timing and possible causal relationship of events in nerve and muscle maturation at the neuromuscular junction. Initially, the cutaneous pectoris nerve trunk was present in the undifferentiated presumptive cutaneous pectoris mesenchyme, prior to muscle maturation.