In human hepatocellular carcinoma cells the total membrane surface area of each major organelle is a particular allometric function of the cytoplasmic volume. A morphometric study.

Morphometric analysis by both light and electron microscopy was performed in cells from five cases of human, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and in three control cases. In each case, three fragments were examined individually and the following morphometric parameters evaluated: a) nuclear, cytoplasmic and cell volumes; b) volume density and absolute volume of the rough ER, smooth ER, mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, peroxisomes, dense bodies and cytoplasmic matrix; c) surface density, surface/ volume ratio, and total surface area of rough ER, smooth ER and outer mitochondrial membranes. The parameters obtained from HCC cases showed ample scatter of data, all control values lying within the interval between the extreme values for the various parameters. Both the original and the logarithmically transformed data on volume and total membrane surface area of organelles (y) and of the cytoplasmic volume (x) were regressed using first degree regression equations. The original values for volume and total surface area of rough ER, total ER and mitochondria were linearly related to the corresponding values for cytoplasmic volume. The allometric analysis carried out with the logarithms also revealed significant regressions between cytoplasmic volume and smooth ER parameters not detectable when using the original x and y values. It showed, in addition, that in progressively larger cytoplasmic volumes, the cisternae of both rough and smooth ER tend to appear more compacted and a higher portion of the total ER membrane tends to be constituted of smooth ER. Within the wide range of variation in cytoplasmic volume of the HCC cells, the volume and total surface of the organelles do not vary randomly. These data indicate that in the small, normal-sized and large tumoral cells the mechanisms responsible for the cytoplasmic volume and for the corresponding total volume and membrane surface area of each major organelle are interdependent. Such an interdependence gives no support to ideas implying that the variation in size of cancer cells, an element of pleomorphism, would result of anarchical intracellular synthetic and/or degradative conditions.

[Granulomatous reaction associated with metastatic epidermoid carcinoma. The importance of the use of multiple methods in diagnostic pathology]. / Reação granulomatosa associada a metástase de carcinoma epidermóide. Importância da utilização de múltiplos métodos em patologia diagnóstica.

A case of epidermoid carcinoma with metastasis to a cervical lymph node is reported. Due to an intense granulomatous reaction and the similarity of the neoplastic cells with the epithelioid cells there was diagnostic difficulty when based only on histology and fine needle aspiration cytology. The utilization of electron microscopy and immunoperoxidase defined the diagnosis. Discussion is made about the importance of the utilization of multiples methods in surgical pathology and the pathogenesis of the granulomatous reaction associated with malignant neoplasms.

Annulate lamellae as a precursor or a product of paired cisternae in human adenomatous parathyroid cells.

Clusters of chief cells from a fragment of human parathyroid adenoma possess relatively few rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) cisternae with scattered annulate lamella (AL) pores in cytoplasmic sectors close to the nucleus. Some of these cisternae exhibit winding profiles with smooth segments lying very close to the outer nuclear membrane. Other groups of cells exhibit well-developed stacks of RER either in continuity with or separated from AL. Two other tumor fragments show chief cells with few RER cisternae scattered in the cytoplasm and possess stacks with various amounts of AL and/or paired cisternae (PC), occasionally at perinuclear sites. Compartmental continuity between AL and PC is a frequent finding. Pore density in AL varies considerably between the stacks from different cells.