Granule-Laden Perivascular Cells Observed in Rabbits with Experimental Cerebral Atherosclerosis

Abstract

Granule-laden perivascular cells distributed around the fine vessels in brain of hypertensive rabbits fed a cholesterol diet were examined by electron microscopy. Perivenule granule-laden cells contained secondary lysosomes, residual bodies, Golgi vesicles, fusion vesicles, and vacuoles. In periarteriole granule-laden cells, secondary lysosomes and vacuoles were not prominent. Findings indicated that the granule-laden cell may be a histiocyte that appears during the vascular reaction to hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. This vascular reaction may occur more strongly in the veins than the arteries.

Activated Microvessels Express Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Integrin αvβ3 During Focal Cerebral Ischemia

“…These VEGF-expressing cells had the morphologic features of PMN leukocytes that had penetrated the vascular wall (Fig. 7) or histiocyte-appearing cells localized within the vascular wall (Kato et al, 1996).…”