Extramedullary Hematopoiesis in the Choroid Plexus of Five Dogs

Abstract

Five dogs euthanatized because of refractory seizures were found to have hematopoietic elements in the interstitium of the choroid plexus at the level of the fourth ventricle. None of the dogs had significant hematologic or cerebrospinal fluid abnormalities. The extramedullary hematopoiesis was confined to the central nervous system and consisted of megakaryocytes, immature granulocytes, and rubricytes in two dogs and of one predominant cell population in each of the other three dogs. These findings are unique, and factors possibly contributing to the formation of a hematopoietic inductive microenvironment in the choroid plexus are cytokine-neurokine homologies, locally altered vascular supply, and aberrant functioning of bone marrow-derived central nervous system macrophages.