Developmental changes of glial fibrillary acidic protein in cerebral white matter.

Developmental changes were observed in the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)--positive glia of cerebral white matter (including myelination glia) in the frontal lobes of 38 normal cases. With age, GFAP-positive processes gradually became larger and their location shifted from preponderantly in the deep white matter to mostly in the superficial white matter. This shift in pattern of GFAP-positive glia may be related to the parallel changes in perinatal brains in the localization of leukomalacic lesions. However, the shift is a normal developmental phenomenon on which such lesions are superimposed.