Telocyte-like cells containing Weibel-Palade bodies in rat lamina fusca

Telocytes (TCs) are cells with long, thin and moniliform processes called telopodes. These cells have been found in numerous tissues, including the eye choroid and sclera. Lamina fusca (LF), an anatomical structure located at the sclera-choroid junction, has outer fibroblastic lamellae containing cells with long telopodes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, via transmission electron microscopy, the LF for the presence of endothelial-specific ultrastructural features, such as Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs), in the residing TCs. We found that the outer fibroblastic layer of LF lacked pigmented cells but contained numerous cells with telopodes. These cells had incomplete or absent basal laminae, were united by focal adhesions and close contacts, and displayed scarce caveolae and shedding vesicles. Within the stromal cells of LF, numerous WPBs in various stages of maturation and vesicular structures, as secretory pods that ensure the exocytosis of WPBs content, were observed. The WPBs content of the cells with telopodes in the LF could indicate either their involvement in vasculogenesis and/or lymphangiogenesis or that they are the P-selectin- and CD63-containing pools that play roles in scleral or choroidal inflammation.