Microvasculature of the buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) choroid plexuses: structural, histochemical and immunocytochemical study

The choroid plexuses (CPs) in mammals produce the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In the literature, the morphology of CPs and the process that regulates the production of CSF are virtually nonexistent for domestic ruminants. Thus this study has two aims: 1. to investigate the morpho-structure of the buffalo CP microvasculature utilizing light microscopy (LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques, and 2. to investigate the relationship between the blood vessels and both the elongated cells and the cells with multiple protrusions located in the CPs. SEM and TEM analyses of the CPs from buffalo brain showed morphological and structural features similar those reported in other mammalian species. Moreover the blood microvasculature is the major component responsible for the formation of the CSF, secreted by the encephalic CPs. In addition the chemical composition of this fluid depends on several morpho-functional characteristics of the vascularization of the CPs. These characteristics are as follows: two shapes of the vascular organization: lamina-like and ovoid-like elongated cells of the CPs, which connect the ventricular cavities to the blood capillaries; and the CP capillaries have diverse forms. In the present study the employment of NADPHd and NOS I was taken as indirect evidence for the presence of NO for investigation their specific role in CPs. Then NOS I immunoreactivity is found in the walls of CP blood vessels demonstrating indirectly the presence of NO with a vaso-dilatatory and autoregulation function of vascular tone by cholinergic nerve stimulation of blood vessel smooth muscle.