Ultrastructure of pinealocytes of the cotton rat, Sigmodon hispidus

Fine structural features of pinealocytes of cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) were examined. Golgi complexes, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and polysomes are usual organelles seen in the perikaryonal cytoplasm of pinealocytes. Many non-granulated vesicles (40 to 80 nm in diameter) and a few granulated vesicles (about 100 nm in diameter) are associated with the Golgi cisternae. Occasionally, the cisternae contain granular materials. The perikaryonal cytoplasm of pinealocytes is characterized by the presence of inclusion bodies. These bodies are usually round in shape, not bounded by a limiting membrane and composed of fine granular or filamentous materials of high electron-opacity, which are similar in appearance to the substance seen in the nucleolonema. Pinealocyte processes, filled with abundant non-granulated vesicles and some granulated vesicles, are mainly found within the parenchyma and occasionally in perivascular spaces.