Abstract

Investigations have been carried out on the ultrastructure and the soluble iodoprotein pattern of human thyroid cancer in both follicular and papillary carcinomata. The predominant ultrastructural features are: distention of the endoplasmic reticulum, moderate increase of free ribosomes or polysomes, mitochondria, and dense granules, and loss of basal membrane infoldings. Hyperplasia of microvilli and nuclear abnormalities are more pronounced in follicular carcinoma, whereas in papillary carcinoma the most characteristic alterations are: disorganization of mitochondria, reduction of attached ribosomes, partial transformation of rough into smooth endoplasmic reticulum, and appearance of lamellar concentric structures in the cytoplasm. The ultrastructural disorganization of the thyroid cells coincides with a striking decrease of 19S-thyroglobulin which is replaced by a heterogeneous slow-sedimenting material that has the immunological properties of serum globulins.

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