Brawer J R, Walsh R J
Am J Anat. 1982 Mar;163(3):247-56. doi: 10.1002/aja.1001630305.
Age-related changes in tanycytes of the median eminence were observed at both the light and electron microscopic level in male and female rats at ages 4 weeks to 14 months. The most obvious changes involved a marked progressive increase in number and size of droplets identified histochemically as neutral lipid and the development of complex degenerate bodies in the perivascular contact zone. These degenerate bodies consisted of large multiple complexes of myelin figures containing intercalated channels and pools of electron-dense material. They often occurred interspersed among large lipid droplets. The degenerate bodies (myelin figure complexes) and associated lipid droplets occupied much of the contact zone in the older animals. Evidence of axonal degeneration and tanycytic phagocytosis of deteriorating neural elements was also present. These age-related changes occurred independent of sex and were not affected by gonadectomy. This tanycyte response to aging in the median eminence is very similar to the response of neurohypophysial pituicytes to axonal degeneration, suggesting a phagocytic glial role for tanycytes.
在4周龄至14月龄的雄性和雌性大鼠中，在光学和电子显微镜水平均观察到正中隆起室管膜细胞的年龄相关变化。最明显的变化包括组织化学鉴定为中性脂质的液滴数量和大小显著逐渐增加，以及血管周围接触区出现复杂的退化小体。这些退化小体由包含插入通道和电子致密物质池的大量髓鞘样结构复合物组成。它们常散布于大脂滴之间。退化小体（髓鞘样结构复合物）和相关脂滴占据了老年动物接触区的大部分区域。还存在轴突退变以及室管膜细胞对退化神经元进行吞噬作用的证据。这些年龄相关变化与性别无关，且不受性腺切除术的影响。正中隆起处室管膜细胞对衰老的这种反应与神经垂体垂体细胞对轴突退变的反应非常相似，提示室管膜细胞具有吞噬性神经胶质细胞的作用。
