Summary
A histochemical and ultrastructural study was carried out on subcommissura organs from 42 human embryos and fetuses in order to characterize some “large granules”
Typical “granules” make their appearance in the rostral hypendymal region of the subcommissural organ (SCO) in fetuses of about 50 mm CRL. Although they appear in other SCO-regions later, the highest number of “granules” is always located towards the pineal gland.
Typical “granules” are of spherical shape with a diameter of about 2 microns. The various histochemical reactions reveal a reactivity which differentiates the shell of the “granules” from the “granule” interior. Nucleoproteins are present in the shell together with phospholipids and/or lipoproteins. The interior of the “granules” can contain different materials such as glycogen or lipid or “neurosecretory substance”. Ultrastructural observations show that a “granule” consists of whorls of endoplasmic reticulum sparsely studded with ribosomes surrounding an interior containing either lipid or lipoprotein inclusions, large amounts of glycogen or simply cytoplasm.
It is suggested that the concentric lamellar organelle (CLO) is a morphological entity that might be involved in secretory processes rather than being the secretory granules themselves.
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This work was supported by a grant from Statens almindelige Videnskabsfond, Copenhagen.
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Møllgård, K., Møller, M. & Kimble, J. Histochemical investigations on the human fetal subcommissural organ. Histochemie 37, 61–74 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00306860
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00306860