Electron microscopy of xanthomatosis - Morphogenesis of lipids

尽管在文献中进行了广泛的讨论，但迄今为止，组织中的脂质结构尚未确定，可能是因为如果使用传统的包埋技术，大多数脂质在脱水过程中甚至在组织处理的初始戊二醛阶段丢失。我们开发了一种新的“阴极发光电子显微镜”装置，可以几乎完整地保存细胞内胆固醇。采用石蜡切片和低温切片常规光学显微镜检查，透射技术、冷冻断裂技术和阴极发光电镜等常规电镜检查，对黄瘤病变进行了研究。此外，我们还利用洋地黄苷和filipin的甾醇探针进行了冷冻复制薄切片技术的超微结构细胞化学研究。本文对黄瘤实质细胞内胆固醇的超微结构进行了观察，并讨论了黄瘤的起源以及酯化胆固醇和游离胆固醇的形态发生。电镜观察显示，薄壁细胞内脂质呈簇状内化。个体薄壁细胞中游离胆固醇与酯化胆固醇的比例随黄瘤年龄的增加而偏心变化。

Though widely discussed in the literatures, the structure of lipids in the tissues has not been established hitherto, presumably because most lipids are lost during dehydration and even during the initial glutaraldehyde phase of tissue processing if conventional embedding techniques are used. We developed a new apparatus of "cathodoluminescence electronmicroscope" which permitted almost complete preservation of intracellular cholesterols. The xanthomatous lesions were studied by routine optical microscopic examination of paraffin and cryostat sections and through conventional electron microscopic examination by transmission techniques, freeze-fracture techiques and cathodoluminescence electron microscope. In addition, sterol-probes of digitonin and filipin were used for an ultrastructural cytochemical study of freeze-replica thin section techniques. The present observations focus on the ultrastructure of intracellular cholesterols in the parenchyma cells of xanthoma, and the discussion considers the origin of the xanthoma together with the morphogenesis of the esterified cholesterol and free cholesterol. The electron micrographs revealed that the lipid materials in the parenchyma cells were internalized in clusters. The ratio of free to esterified cholesterol in the individual parenchyma cells eccentrically varied with the increase in the age of the xanthoma.