Resting and reactive macrophages in the developing cerebellum: an experimental ultrastructural study.

The whole heads of 6 days old rats were exposed to 150R of X-ray irradiation to induce cell-death in the external granular layer of the cerebellum. The animals were sacrificed in a developmental sequence, and the tissue obtained from the cerebellum was prepared for electron microscopy. On the basis of the cytological criteria established for the macrophages in the cerebellum of the normal animals, characteristics of the resting and reactive macrophages and their transformation from one state to the other in the experimental animals are described. In their reactive state the macrophages showed hypertrophic and nuclear changes which were found identical to those seen in the reactive microglial elements. Issues pertaining to the ultrastructural characteristics of the macrophages, their endogenous presence in the developing cerebellum, and their transformation into the microglia cells are discussed.