Figure 2: LBlood vessels from group 1 are shown but such vessels were also detected in all CNV groups. (a): A capillary consisting of endothelial cells with varying thickness and few fenestrations (arrow). Three fenestrations can be seen in the inset at the upper right at higher magnification. The lumen (asterisk) of this capillary has the typical plasma density after fixation and embedding for electron microscopy. The capillary is associated with a pericyte (p). (b): A capillary with many microvilli-like projections. These form a labyrinth like-structure and nearly close the vessel’s lumen which is, however, still recognizable and marked by arrows. The nucleus (n) of the endothelial cell is fragmented and a rudimentary basement membrane is labeled by an arrowhead. The capillary is surrounded by extravasal erythrocytes (e) indicating an interrupted endothelial border. (c) A capillary with necrotic endothelial cells. These have swollen mitochondria (arrows) and a partially lysed cell membrane (arrowhead). The vessel is surrounded by a multilayered basement menbrane (white arrows) and connected to a necrotic pericyte (p). An erythrocyte (e) is still inside the lumen. (d): A venule with a necrotic endothelial cell (ne). It has a lysed cell membrane (arrowheads) at the luminal and abluminal side. It is in close contact to an endothelial cell with intact cell membrane (arrow). An erythrocyte (e) is still inside the lumen. (e): A venule with reduced lumen (asterisk) and unusual large caveolae or vacuoles (white arrowhead). Some fenestrations are labeled by arrows. One of the vacuoles (white arrowhead) shows a fenestration (arrow) connecting it with the vessel lumen (asterisk). Whereas the endothelium is irregularly thick on the left side and shows few fenestrations (black arrows), it is thicker on the right side and contains Weibel Pallade bodies (white arrow). (f): A venule with a thin endothelium. This endothelium forms bifurcations in order to build up an inner and an outer wall towards the main lumen (large asterisk) of this venule. The outer wall incompletely closes a small vascular lumen (small asterisk) that contains plasma and has open connections towards the extracellular space (arrowheads). The density of the plasma is different in both luminal compartments (small and large asterisks). The endothelial cells form two intercellular junctions (arrows) instead of the normal one. (g): A vessel with a thick endothelium (large black asterisk). It is localized close to RPE cells (white asterik) and a second vessel is shown with normal endothelial thickness (small black asterisk). Whereas the vessel on the left (large black asterisk) contains plasma with normal density, the vessel on the right appears completely empty (small asterisk). (h): Choriocapillaris of a human donor showing a normal morphology with a lot of fenestrations. Fenestrations are indicated by arrows.