[Age and changes in human brain capillaries (histochemical study)]

The vascular-capillary bed in the field 17 of the human brain cortex (from fetuses up to 86 years of age) has been studied by means of some histochemical methods to reveal alcaline phosphatase and Mg-ATPase. As demonstrate quantitative methods, active processes of the capillary bed formation in the cerebral cortex take place before 8-16 years of age. Towards the old age, the amount of the vessels with a high and moderate enzymatic activity decreases, but those with a low enzymatic activity increases. The average parameters of the optic density of the reaction product decreases respectively in the capillary wall, so does the intensity of metabolic processes, while the value of the working surface increases up to 75 years of age.