title: Ultrastructural and quantitative age-related changes in capillaries of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus.
abstract: An ultrastructural and quantitative study of age-related changes in the capillaries of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus was carried out using male Wistar rats aged 3, 24, and 28 months. The most important structural changes were found in the basal lamina: thickenings either homogeneously distributed or in specific points; spurs towards the astrocyte sheath; and osmiophilic membrane-like inclusions located within the basal lamina. Endothelial cells and pericytes showed an increase in inclusions and dense bodies in the cytoplasm. The quantitative study showed that the most pronounced alteration was the thickening of the basal lamina, which existed at 24 months. Later, at 28 months, thinning of the endothelial cells was observed together with an increase in mitochondria size and the number of pinocytic vesicles. These changes could be an endothelial cell response to compensate for the increasing transport difficulties caused by the thickening of the basal lamina. The progressive age-related changes observed in the structure of the capillaries might have an effect on the regulation of blood and brain tissue exchanges, and thus might contribute to the development of degenerative alterations in surrounding aging neurones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, 29071 Málaga, Spain. mcalba@uma.es
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alba
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Villena
authors.forename: I Pérez
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: de Vargas
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002196:Capillaries / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005829:Geniculate Bodies / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / Q000379:methods; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020286:Pericytes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar