Histochemical and morphometrical ageing changes in human vocal cord muscles.

A histochemical and morphometrical study of thyroarytenoid and posterior cricoarytenoid human muscles was done in 43 human adults (38 males, 5 females) with ages ranging from 46 to 87 years. Vocal cord muscles were taken from laryngectomy specimens with carcinoma (25) and from autopsies (18), excluding those with neuromuscular diseases. In all cases the studied vocal cords were clinically and histologically normal in appearance. Only 2 patients received radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Posterior cricoarytenoid muscle was studied in 6 patients with larynx cancer. Mean diameter of thyroarytenoid muscle type I fibers (n = 128) was 38.46 microns and for type II 39.68 microns; fiber percentage values (n = 127) were 44.16% for type I and 55.84% for type II. Mean diameter (n = 6) of posterior cricoarytenoid muscle type I fibers was 42.69 microns and of type II 46.56 microns; type I fibers percentage was 66.15% and type II 33.85%. Statistical regression analysis revealed a progressive decrease in thickness of the mucosa and lamina propria in the right vocal cord along the ageing process. A low increase of endomysial tissue with a low decrease in perimysium in both vocal cords was noticed. In thyroarytenoid muscle, a low increase in type I fiber percentage and a decrease in type II fiber percentage were found. Posterior cricoarytenoid muscle showed a significant decrease in type I fiber percentage and diameter, corresponding to the same increase in variables of type II fibers.

[Muscle changes in chronic obstructive arteriopathy: a morphological, histochemical and morphometric study]. / Alteraciones musculares en la arteriopatía obstructiva crónica: estudio morfológico histoquímico y morfométrico.

Muscular alteration due to chronic obstructive arteriopathy in lower extremities was studied in 50 patients. An arteriosclerotic pure clinical picture was found in a 50% of them, while the other were associated to diabetes. Histopathological features present in both groups were quite similar and no substantial differences between diabetic and non diabetic patients were found. In patients with an acute clinical course, myopathic changes predominate in tibialis anterior muscle. However, neuropathic alterations were more frequently found in patients with a chronic clinical course. Although histological changes characteristic of chronic obstructive arteriopathy do not exist, this disease can be defined by a characteristic association of muscle lesions that will constitute the "chronic ischaemic myopathy" histological picture. Because of this, muscle biopsy examination in such patients will deliver important information to orient therapeutic attitudes and prognostic predictions.

Human otoconial crystal growth. An approach from morphological and morphometric data.

The otoconium genesis was evaluated by morphometric procedures using transmission and scanning electron-microscopic techniques for human fetuses of 50, 110, 134, 173, 210, 220 and 232 mm crown-rump length. Different otoconial crystalline habits were found. For the elongated otoconia (hexagonal prism) different parameters were measured: (1) the mean cleavage angle value of the terminal rhombohedron was 102 (SD 0.65), which was independent of the fetal age; (2) large and short axes show a linear growing law in function of the fetal age, and (3) the otoconial volume grows following a quadratic law. A hypothesis about the physicochemical growth conditions is postulated.

Chondroma of the tongue. Report of a case and review of the literature.

A case of chondroma of the tongue in a 53-year-old male is reported. A review of the literature is presented.

Genesis and decay of the foregut: development and repair.

The microscopic anatomy of the oesophago-gastric territory is interpreted as the result of the interaction of three main phenotypes: squamous, oxyntic and intestinal. This synthesis allows the comparison between phenotype development, atrophy and metaplasia. The concomitances in the processes of development and repair lead to the proposal of an intestinalization gradient inherent to the oesophago-gastric field. This hypothesis permits an integration of the epithelial changes associated with gastritis and oesophagitis together with ontogenesis. The global tendencies in epithelial development and repair are discussed; a link between the two appears evident. The shifting potential of the progenitor gland zones in development and repair is in consonance with Wolpert's theory of positional information.

Midfacial granuloma syndrome. A clinic and pathological report on four patients.

Four cases of midfacial necrotizing lesions are reported. All patients were males with ages ranging from 25 to 76 years. The relationship between subjective symptoms and laboratory data prior to therapy (leukopenia, elevated ESR, increment of IgA and IgG), as well as between fever crisis with sweats and chills and the progression of the lesions were pathognomonic clinical signs for us. In all cases, paranasal sinus and nasopharynx were involved. Middle ear, eye and kidney involvement was present in 2 cases, and joints lesions only in one. Three patients died (2 of sepsis and one from hemorrhage) despite therapy. A pleomorphic cellular infiltrate with atypical lymphocytes and a tendency to angiocentricity was found in these cases. Such features and PAP positivity to beta and kappa chains led us to consider these lesions as an extranodal B-lymphocyte lymphoma-like. In the fourth case the histological picture was that of a necrotizing granuloma with clustered giant cells. This patient, treated only with prednisone, had a total remission of his symptomatology up to 11 years after the onset of the disease.

Muscle fiber types in tetrapods. A comparative histochemical and morphometric study.

A comparative histochemical and morphometric study in two groups of homologous muscles from different tetrapods (rat, pigeon, lizard and frog) was performed. On the basis of their fiber diameters and oxidative enzyme activities, an initial correlation between fiber types of all animals is observed, although in the lizard and frog muscles, another fiber type does exists that could not be demonstrated in higher vertebrates. When more than one histochemical techniques are used for the identification of each tetrapod fiber types, the lack of correlation between them becomes obvious. Thus, different animals groups, each showing a characteristic muscle metabolic pattern, could be distinguished.

Non-conventional chondrosarcomas and chondrogenesis.

Pattern formation in chondroid development is compared with growth models exhibited by mesenchymal and myxoid chondrosarcomas. The results reveal strong similarities between mesenchymal chondrosarcoma and normal chondrogenesis. The fine vascularization of the tumor lobules of myxoid chondrosarcoma is discussed in relation to chondroid differentiation. A common histogenetic approach to the interpretation and classification of these neoplasias is proposed.

Ciliogenesis in human vestibular epithelia. A scanning electron microscopic study.

Ciliogenesis events in human vestibular epithelia develop as an asynchronous process between neighbouring cells, but it is a synchronous one within each sensory cell, presenting the following stages. Initially, the cilia buds appear as stubby cylinders well aligned on the cuticular plate of the presumptive sensory cell. In the next stage, ciliary growth occurs at one pole of the cuticular plate where elongation of the kinocilium and the nearby stereocilia can be observed. Posteriorly, the elongation of the kinocilium and the nearby stereocilia continues, remaining shorter than the other emerging stereocilia buds. Finally, the staircase height pattern of the mature sensory hair bundle is reached by means of a ciliary buds differential elongation.

Solitary Langerhans' cell granulomatosis of the stomach associated with gastric carcinoma.

A case of Langerhans' cell granulomatosis associated with gastric adenocarcinoma is reported. A review of the literature demonstrate an association of this entity with Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphomas alone. The discussion is centred on differential diagnosis from the pseudo-sarcoid granulomatous reaction. Further reports may assist in classifying the granulomatous reaction to tumours into two types, epithelioid and Langerhans.

Skeletal muscle changes in chronic alcoholic patients. A conventional, histochemical, ultrastructural and morphometric study.

Muscle biopsies of 20 alcoholic patients (15 males and 5 females), most of whom had liver disease and with no clinical or analytical evidence of neuromyopathy, were studied. 10 abstemious patients with no neuromuscular disease were selected as controls. Conventional histology failed to show significant skeletal muscle changes. A characteristic histochemical picture of tubular aggregates was found in one patient. An enlargement of the intermyofibrillar space with increase in glycogen deposition and fat droplets were detected ultrastructurally while 2 of the patients showed tubular aggregates. The mitochondriae of the alcoholic patients had a smaller perimeter and area than those of the control group (P less than 0.004 and P less than 0.008, respectively). These results suggest that the prolonged ingestion of alcohol can cause a mitochondrial alteration only evidenced by morphometry, with poor clinical, biochemical, electrophysiological and histological expression of myopathy. These findings can represent an early stage of alcoholic skeletal muscle injury.

A scanning electron microscopy study on human otoconia genesis.

The genesis of the otoconia was studied with SEM in several human fetuses. The results of the present paper together with previous reports (1, 2, 13) support the hypothesis that otoconia genesis may develop according the following stages: (1) calcification of some sensory and supporting cells; (2) extrusion of the calcified cellular material and some organic substances in "sponge-like bodies"; (3) deposition of diverse core seeds in these areas giving rise to a random calcium carbonate crystallization and incorporation of matrix organic material; (4) growth of otoconia developing linearly with a gradual change in shape from spherical to ovoid, rhombohedral, and cylindrical forms; (5) inhibition of crystal growth occurring once a critical unsaturated calcium endolymph state and an adequate size of statoconial membranous chambers are reached.

Early apocrine change in hyperplastic cystic disease.

Biopsy material from 42 cases of florid hyperplastic cystic disease of the breast were reviewed and were found to have foci of apocrine metaplasia. This appearance was limited to the ductular epithelium of hyperplastic lobules. It is believed that this scattered change is an initial feature in relation to the genesis of apocrine-lined and fully developed cysts.

A study of the development of utricular and saccular maculae in man and in rat.

The ultrastructural development of utricular and saccular maculae in man and rat is described. In the human fetus with a crown-rump length (CRL) of 50 mm, the utricular and saccular epithelia consist of a pseudostratified layer of dark and light cells without nerve endings. In human fetuses of 110 and 220 mm CRL, as well as in 17- and 18-day-old rat embryos, it is already possible to identify sensory and supporting cells in various stages of differentiation. Nerve endings can also be found. Ciliogenesis is present in both sensory and supporting cells of the 17- and 18-day-old rat embryos. During epithelial differentiation a heavy calcium deposition occurs on vestibular cells of both man and rat. Otoconial mineralization increases gradually as epithelial maturation advances. Phagocytosis of otoconia by free macrophages occurs in 50-mm CRL human fetuses. Vestibular nerve myelination is asynchronous and is present in 110-mm CRL human fetuses and in 30-minute postpartum rats.