Question:medium
What are Gitter cells:
What are Gitter cells:
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Lipid-laden foamy phagocytes clearing myelin debris in the brain.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
- Macroglia
- Modified macrophages in CNS
- Astrocytes
- Oligodendrocytes
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The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Trace the origin. After tissue injury in the brain, monocytes from blood (and some resident microglia) move in to clean up debris. Step 2: As they engulf the fatty breakdown products of damaged myelin, their cytoplasm fills with lipid droplets, giving a swollen, granular, foamy look - this lipid-laden scavenger is the Gitter cell, also called a foamy macrophage or compound granular corpuscle. Step 3: Their job is clearance: they phagocytose myelin and cellular debris in lesions like infarcts and then drain off through perivascular spaces into blood or CSF. Step 4: This is a macrophage lineage cell, not a glial supporting cell, so the answer is modified macrophages in the CNS rather than macroglia, astrocytes or oligodendrocytes. \[\boxed{\text{Modified macrophages in CNS}}\]
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