Center for Cellular Imaging and NanoAnalytics (C-CINA), Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2018 Dec 21;8(1):18046. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-36223-4.
Corpora amylacea are cell-derived structures that appear physiologically in the aged human brain. While their histological identification is straightforward, their ultrastructural composition and microenvironment at the nanoscale have remained unclear so far, as has their relevance to aging and certain disease states that involve the sequestration of toxic cellular metabolites. Here, we apply correlative serial block-face scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron tomography to gain three-dimensional insight into the ultrastructure and surrounding microenvironment of cerebral Corpora amylacea in the human brainstem and hippocampal region. We find that cerebral Corpora amylacea are composed of dense labyrinth-like sheets of lipid membranes, contain vesicles as well as morphologically preserved mitochondria, and are in close proximity to blood vessels and the glymphatic system, primarily within the cytoplasm of perivascular glial cells. Our results clarify the nature of cerebral Corpora amylacea and provide first hints on how they may arise and develop in the aging brain.
细胞淀粉样体是在衰老的人类大脑中生理性出现的细胞衍生结构。虽然它们的组织学鉴定是直接的，但它们的超微结构组成和纳米级别的微环境迄今为止仍不清楚，它们与衰老和某些涉及毒性细胞代谢物隔离的疾病状态的相关性也不清楚。在这里，我们应用相关的连续块面扫描电子显微镜和传输电子断层扫描技术，从三维角度深入了解人脑干和海马区脑淀粉样体的超微结构和周围微环境。我们发现，脑淀粉样体由密集的迷宫状脂质膜片组成，包含囊泡以及形态保存完好的线粒体，并且与血管和糖质系统密切相关，主要位于血管周围神经胶质细胞的细胞质内。我们的结果阐明了脑淀粉样体的性质，并为它们在衰老大脑中如何产生和发展提供了初步线索。
