Human pineal gland involutionary process: new findings.

We report in this work preliminary results about the human pineal gland involution. The detailed analysis of pineal structure was done on autopsy material of 77 persons in age from 27 to 96 using X-ray phase-contrast tomography, histology and immunohistochemistry. Our study suggests that the pineal gland alteration in the older adults may be more profound than has been reported to date. We identified and described a new form of pineal gland involution that eventually led to the total degradation of pineal gland. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report about complete replacement of pineal gland parenchyma with connective tissue in the older adults.