Frequency of surface microprojections and coated vesicles with increased malignancy in human astrocytic neoplasms.

Surface membrane microprojections and coated vesicles of a well differentiated (Kernohan-Sayre grade I) cerebral fibrillary astrocytoma were compared with those of anaplastic astrocytic (grade IV, glioblastoma) cerebral tumors. Both phenomena increase with increased malignancy. This provides further evidence for membrane alterations with malignant change in human astrocytic cells. It is the first comparison of fibrillary astrocytoma surface phenomena with those of more malignant astrocytic tumors of the cerebrum.