Eleven colloid cysts of the third ventricle were investigated by immunohistochemistry using 16 mono- and polyclonal antibodies. Colloid cyst epithelium, choroid plexus epithelium and ependyma showed different immunohistochemical profiles. In particular, antibodies to different cytokeratins and to transthyretin revealed considerable and constant differences of immunoreactivity. Therefore, common derivation of the three tissues seems unlikely. Our findings are interpreted in favour of the non-neuroepithelial origin of third ventricular colloid cysts.