From Pluripotent Stem Cells to Multifunctional Cordocytic Phenotypes in the Human Brain: An Ultrastructural Study

Light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were used to investigate surgical cases in a variety of pathological conditions (thromboses, tumors, cerebrovascular malformations, Moyamoya disease) to identify and characterize different phenotypes belonging to a new interstitial cell recently described ultrastructurally in the brain and here named cordocyte. Also, this work is an attempt to identify and characterize precursor/stem cells for cordocytic lineage in the perivascular areas, within perivascular nerves and pia mater (now considered a cordocytic-vascular tissue). Unexpected relationships and functions emerge from observations concerning these phenotypes, almost ubiquitous, but not yet fully studied in the brain.