The studies were made on the vascular architecture in the subependymal matrix of the autopsied neonatal cases with the injection of barium sulfate suspension into the cerebral vascular system through the aortic arch or the superior vena cava.
The fixed brain was cut with the thickness of 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 cm. These sections were photographed by a soft X-ray apparatus. Then the thinner sections of 200 to 500 it were stained with benzidine.
The distal portions of the long medullary arteries turned at the borderline between the subependymal matrix and the cerebral white matter, and runned parallel along the ventricular wall, branching the small arteries to the subependymal matrix.
The capillaries in the subependymal matrix were greater than those in the cerebral cortex or white matter.
The axis of capillary net works were arranged parallel to ventricular walls in the subependymal matrix, and vertically to venricular walls in the deep cerebral white matter.
The subependymal veins were localized at the subependymal matrix near the borderline between the cerebral white matter and the subependymal matrix. The subependymal veins branched into the subependymal matrix as small veins.
Fibrinolytic activity of brain tissue in the subependymal matrix, cerebral cortex and white matter was studied by Astrup's biochemical method.
Fibrinolytic activity (tissue activator) was higher in the subependymal matrix than in cerebral cortex and white matter.