Mineralized cells: neurons, glia or macrophages? Ultrastructure of cerebellum in chick nutritional encephalopathy.

Mineralized dead cells were found in infarcted areas in the cerebella of three chicks killed in the healing stage of nutritional encephalopathy. The mineral deposits were found in vacuoles and consisted of radially packed threads and spicules, concentric laminated structures and centrally located amorphous masses. The cells in which these deposits were found were positively identified as astrocytes and macrophages. The presence of such deposits in neurons was suspected but not proven.