Basal membrane labyrinths in the healing stages of chick nutritional encephalopathy.

Chicks were fed a diet rich in oxidized oil and deficient in alpha-tocopherol. As soon as nutritional encephalopathy developed the animals were immediately put on to a normal diet, and kept alive for up to 166 days. Examination of the cerebellum showed multiple foci of healed encephalomalacia with EM appearance of basal membrane labyrinths between astroglial cells and around blood vessels. The possible origin of the basement membrane material in this conditions was considered and compared with similar formations in normal animals, in CNS tumour explants, and after portocaval anastomosis as well as after spinal cord lesions.