Open AccessSTUDY ON THE ULTRASTRUCTURE AND MUCIN PRODUCTION IN PRETIBIAL MYXEDEMA
Author(s) -
Fujita H.,
Asagami C.,
Suetomi Y.,
Uchihira T.,
Kinoshita K.,
Araki I.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
acta patholigica japonica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 74
ISSN - 0001-6632
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1827.1971.tb00120.x
Subject(s) - ultrastructure , golgi apparatus , endoplasmic reticulum , cytoplasm , cell type , extracellular , microbiology and biotechnology , mucin , mast cell , myxedema , chemistry , cell , bone canaliculus , pathology , biology , biochemistry , thyroid , anatomy , immunology , endocrinology , medicine
Electron microscopic study on pretibial myxedema lesions revealed that, mucin consisted of three types of substances: (1) filamentous to finely granular or amorphous substances, (2) spidery projections extending from a granular core, and (3) fine granules arranged in beaded form. In the lesions, there were numerous mesenchymal cells referred to as the M‐cells which were not found in the normal skin and seemed to be participating in the production and extrusion of the first type of substance and possibly the precursor substances of the other two composing mucin. Most of them were two to three times larger in size than ordinary mast cells. Their cytoplasm displayed, like that of goblet cell, many mitochondria, well developed rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum, and prominent Golgi apparatus accompanied by various lysosomal structures. It might be supposed that the above precursor of the other two types of substances possibly excreted from M‐cells and the mast cell granules released from mast cells might correlate in the extracellular formation of the second and third types of substances. Ultrastructural similarities and dissimilarities between the M‐cell and other types of cells in the same lesions seemed to indicate that the M‐cell might be transformed from the mast cell or reticuloendothelial cell or fibroblast by metaplasia which might occur by the influence of hormonal disturbance of pretibial myxedema.