The ventricular surface of the monkey mediobasal hypothalamus. A scanning electron microscopic study.

The ventricular lining of the infundibular recess of monkey brains of both sexes was investigated with SEM. Based on the distribution patterns of surface profiles regional differences in the tanycytic ependyma are described. Variations in the number of surface profiles were observed in females during the ovarian cycle. These variations may be an indication not only of absorptive and/or secretory activities, but may also be related to cell membrane redistribution and membrane turnover in dependence of endocrine factors. In the males such variations were not registered. An essental sexual dimorphism does not seem to exist in the tanycytic ependyma of the monkey, only the reaction pattern is different. Supraependymal macrophages (SEC) were more numerous in the ovulating females than in the males or menstruating females. In addition to these SEC some monkeys had a second SEC type which was arranged in sheets. These are interpreted to be glioses. A variable number of axons can also be found in the lower regions of the infundibular recess. Their morphology suggests the presence of several types of axons, but they do not appear to constitute an organized network. No significant sexual differences were registered in relation to the axons.