Development of the blood vessels and extracellular spaces during postnatal maturation of rat cerebral cortex

As part of a larger study of the development of postnatal rat cerebral cortex, this report deals with the maturation of the cortex as a tissue from birth to twenty‐one days of age. The changes in the numerical density of cells and blood vessels and the thickness of the cortex at successive ages were followed on light micrographs, and both were related to the ultrastructural observations on routine electron microscopic preparations. The maturation of the cortex is divided into two periods: The first ten days during which the growth to adult dimensions occurs and few patent blood vessels but large extracellular spaces are to be found, and the second ten days in which the majority of the vessels develop patent lumina, the perivascular sheath of astrocyte end‐feet develops, and the large extracellular spaces disappear concomitant with the maturation of the neuropil.

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