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Canalicular adenoma: report of five cases with ultrastructural observations
Author(s) -
McMillan M. D.,
Smith C. J.,
Smillie A. C.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of oral pathology and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1600-0714
pISSN - 0904-2512
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0714.1993.tb01091.x
Subject(s) - ultrastructure , connective tissue , anatomy , endoplasmic reticulum , pathology , cuboidal cell , microfilament , cytoplasm , epithelium , electron microscope , biology , chemistry , cell , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , cytoskeleton , genetics , physics , optics
Canalicular adenomas from five patients were examined by light and electron microscopy. All patients were over 50 years of age; 4 of the lesions were from the upper lip, 4 were cystic, 2 showed capsular invasion and 1 was multifocal. Histopathologically there were epithelial duct‐like or Canalicular structures cut at various angles and epithelial islands surrounded by hyalinized and mucinous connective tissue that contained little collagen. Ultrastructurally the epithelial islands contained many small lumina and connective tissue islands. The characteristic epithelial cell was columnar or cuboidal, extended from the lumina to the connective tissue, had almost straight lateral cell boundaries with desmosomes that predominated near the lumina, and possessed gap junctions and a small number of tight junctions. Their main cytoplasmic constituents were ribosomes, mitochondria, rough‐surfaced endoplasmic reticulum and microfilaments. These findings show that canalicular adenomas are truly monomorphic and support the concept that they are derived from the cells of excretory ducts.