Fine Structural Changes in the Human Cerebral Cortex Adjacent to Meningioma

Human cerebral cortices adjacent to men-ingiomas were studied with an electron microscope and compared with the normal materials of adult rabbits. Various types of presynaptic degenerations are observed in the cerebral cortices adjacent to meningiomas. The glycogen granules appear diffusely in the perikaryal cytoplasm and the dendrites of the nerve cells adjacent to meningiomas, and they accumulate abundantly in the astrocytic cytoplasm and the processes adjacent to the tumors. In most endothelial cells of capillaries adjacent to the tumors, many pino-cytotic vesicles are observed. These degenerative alterations of the neuronal and glial components and reactive changes of the vascular walls adjacent to meningiomas might be due to the neoplastic process.