A morphological lifespan study of neurolipomastocytes in various regions of the mouse forebrain.

The neostriatum, indusium griseum and anterior commissure of the mouse brain were examined by semithin light microscopy and electron microscopy in an attempt to identify and follow the development of the cells named neurolipomastocytes by Ibrahim et al. (1979). These cells were first seen at 5 days post natum in the indusium griseum and in the leptomeninges adjacent to it. Neurolipomastocptes were always associated with arterioles or venules almost invariably at the site of vessel branching. Their major feature was the presence of round osmiophilic granules. In older animals their cytoplasm contained large quantities of foamy vesicles. This foamy cytoplasm was restricted to neurolipomastocytes and was not a feature of ageing capillary pericytes which showed little morphological evidence of ageing apart from the occasional lipofuscin body.