The adsorptive and transport capacity of tanycytes during the perinatal period of the rat.

Transport of ferritin and horseradish peroxidase from the 3rd ventricle to the median eminence was examined in rats during the perinatal life, the time when functional interrelations between hypothalamus and hypophysis are established. Protein tracers injected into the lateral ventricle are adsorbed on the apical surface of the tanycyte, mainly on its protrusions or in indentations. On the 18th day of prenatal life a few small bleblike protrusions are observed. After birth microvilli appear. In time their concentration increases to result in an increase of adsorbed substances. They are taken up by smooth and coated pinocytotic vesicles and transported to the basal portion of the cell or to the intercellular space bypassing junctional complexes. In addition to pinocytotic vesicles protein tracers fill channels of smooth ER or Golgi complex and multivesicular bodies illustrating a process probably involved in metabolic or secretory processes.