Granule-laden perivascular cells observed in rabbits with experimental cerebral atherosclerosis.

Granule-laden perivascular cells distributed around the fine vessels in brain of hypertensive rabbits fed a cholesterol diet were examined by electron microscopy. Perivenule granule-laden cells contained secondary lysosomes, residual bodies, Golgi vesicles, fusion vesicles, and vacuoles. In periarteriole granule-laden cells, secondary lysosomes and vacuoles were not prominent. Findings indicated that the granule-laden cell may be a histiocyte that appears during the vascular reaction to hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. This vascular reaction may occur more strongly in the veins than the arteries.