Ultrastructural study of phagocytic activities of young astrocytes in injured neonatal rat brain following intracerebral injection of colloidal carbon

The cellular reaction to injury in the mature central nervous system (CNS) has been extensively studied in both man and animals, while a detailed study of the reaction of the immature CNS to injury is lacking in the literature. This study was undertaken to elucidate the response of young astrocytes following injection injury to developing brain. Colloidal carbon was applied because it is a suitable markers for phagocytosis, it is nontoxic, and it is readily identifiable by light and electron microscopy. The cerebral cortex of the neonatal rat was injected with 0.1 μl of colloidal carbon solution. The animals were allowed to survive from 1 hour to 30 days postoperation. The brains were fixed by vascular perfusion and processed for light and electron microscopy. Carbon particles were ingested in membrane‐bound vacuoles and sequestered in lysosomes of young astrocytes. Astrocytes, loaded with carbon particles, were identified after 4 days, and were seen in abundance between 10 to 21 days postoperation. Carbon‐laden astrocytes were seen in the immediate vicinity of the site of the injection; in the surrounding, apparently normal, neuropil; and in the perivascular regions. This study demonstrates the ability of young astrocytes to engulf foreign particles injected into the developing brain. The presence of carbon particles in astrocytes located further away from the site of injection is discussed.