Mineralized Blood Vessels in the Capsules of Human Pineal Glands

We observed mineralized blood vessels in the capsules of human pineal glands containing abundant fibrous calcareous concretions in the capsules as well as non-fibrous calcareous concretions (brain sands) in the gland matrix. The capsular blood vessels were sometimes scattered with mineralized, round deposits of various sizes containing minute spherical deposits (MSD). The MSD showed hypermineralization similar to that in capsular fibrous concretions reported in our recent study and some MSD resembled those consistent with Fahr\u27s disease. Occasionally, the vessel lumens were completely embedded with mineralized deposits. As the characteristic means of detection from the mineralized blood vessels, the volume of Na was significantly higher than that of the matrix non-fibrous concretions. The origin of Na in the mineralized blood vessels containing MSD was likely derived from the connective tissue fluid. Our findings suggested that a human pineal gland matrix containing numerous non-fibrous concretions is likely to associate with mineralized deposits within the blood vessels as well as fibrous concretions in the capsule

Fibrous Calcareous Concretions in the Capsules of Human Pineal Glands

We examined calcareous concretions in the capsule of 15 human pineal glands containing a large amount of the concretions in the matrix. The capsule concretions, brown to blackish-brown in color and/or translucent, were smaller than the matrix concretions, which were yellowish-white. The matrix concretions showed the typical mulberry-shaped overall appearance with scallop-shaped concentric laminations of non-fibrous structures, but the capsule concretions, which also contained Ca and P, showed a globular or oval shape with regular, rough, or no concentric laminations. The capsule concretions also showed globules of mineralized collagen fibers that resembled randomly wound threads and that were occasionally associated with minute spherical deposits showing hypermineralization in the core region as initial calcification. Na was detected as a minor characteristic element of the capsule concretions, and at a significantly higher level than that of the matrix concretions. The findings strongly suggested that a human pineal gland containing numerous matrix concretions is likely to produce mineralized deposits in the capsule