A remarkable increase in number of endothelial specific granules was observed in the rabbit umbilical veins between 2 and 5 days after birth. Electron microscopy indicated that the granules were segregated in the Golgi complex of the endothelial cells and released into the vascular lumen during the postnatal obliteration stage of this vessel. Incubation of the postnatal vessels in Ringer solution containing a histamine-releasing compound induced remarkable morphological alterations of these cytoplasmic components; a reduction of their osmiophilia, swelling with a widened space separating the granular matrix from the limiting membrane, fusion to each other and expulsion of their contents into the vascular lumen, as in mast cell degranulation by this drug, were noted. High-performance liquid chromatography of the homogenized vessels demonstrated appreciable concentrations of histamine in the postnatal samples. There was a correlation between the histamine concentration and the quantity of granules in the respective postnatal samples. The present study strongly suggests that the granules are reservoirs of histamine and have an important role in the obliteration of this vessel.

In the late prenatal stage, the rabbit corpora cavernosa penis (cavernous bodies) are occupied by a large number of mesenchymal cells actively proliferating by mitosis. Most profiles of the cavernous sinuses show growing capillaries consisting of immature endothelial cells and enclosing a narrow lumen. Such growing capillaries are often associated with the mesenchymal cells that contact with each other and eventually with the endothelial cells. Between 1 and 7 postnatal days, the capillary network develops extensively and the maturation of the capillaries results in a flattened endothelium with a continuous basal lamina. The mesenchymal cells are also associated with the helicine arterial sprouts at this time period. No endothelial mitotic figures were observed within the growing capillaries in pre- and postnatal specimens examined. Single pulse labeling with 3H-thymidine in the postnatal rabbits demonstrates that the labeled endothelial cells of the growing capillaries increase in number at 48 hours after injection compared with those at 24 hours, whereas the labeled mesenchymal cells inversely decrease in number. These findings indicate that the incorporation of the mesenchymal cells as vessel-forming cells into the growing capillaries accelerates the neovascularization in the rabbit cavernous bodies.

High-performance liquid chromatography revealed that toad aorta delivered appreciable concentrations of histamine into the perfusate when perfused by Ringer’s solution containing the histamine liberator. Electron micrographs of this vessel after the perfusion showed an expulsion of the endothelial specific granules into the vascular lumen. These results support to our previous hypothesis that the granules are a reservoir site of histamine and might take an important role in the regulation of vascular tone.

The differentiating cavernous body (CB) of postnatal rabbit penises was examined with a special reference to immunolocalizations for fibronectin (FN) and endothelin-1 (ET-1). At postnatal day 1, the CBs were embedded by an abundance of mesenchymal cells (MCs), and some of them were closely associated with endothelial cells of preexisting capillaries. Our electron micrographs indicated that such MCs are successively incorporated into the capillary endothelium as vasoformative cells. At this period, vascular sprouts of the helicine artery (HA), which were associated with the MCs, arose from the deep penile artery, and the transformation of such cells to endothelial and medial muscle ones was also indicated, and some MCs appeared to differentiate to epithelioid cells in the media. Immunoreactions for FN were preferentially localized in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) and along the plasma membrane of such vasoformative MCs, and on the extracellular matrix components which connect these MCs with sprouts of both growing capillaries and HA. These findings suggest that FN, which is produced in the rER of the MCs, plays a crucial role in the mechanical linkage during the incorporation of vasoformative MCs into these penile vessels. Immunoreactions for ET-1 were preferentially localized on Weibel-Palade bodies in endothelial cells of the HA, implying the involvement of this peptide in the regulation of the local blood flow in this vessel.

Histogenetic identification of poorly differentiated spindle cell tumours can be very difficult if only routine histology is used. In the case of a 64‐year‐old man suffering from a recurrent and spreading malignant tumour on his neck, the precise diagnosis of malignant schwannoma was not established until a skin node was examined by electron microscopy. The neurogenic nature of the neoplasm was additionally confirmed by demonstration of S 100 protein within most of the tumour cells. Ultrastructurally, the tumour was composed predominantly of atypical Schwann cells and, in varying number, of perineurial cells, endoneurial cells and some myofibroblasts exhibiting features enabling their differentiation. Some electron microscopical findings not previously reported in malignant schwannoma were detailed.