Collagenous Capsule Research Articles

Fine structure of the eye of peripatus (Onychophora).

1. The fine structure of the eye has been studied in three species of peripatus (Phylum Onychophora): Perpatonder novaezealandiae from New Zealand and Epiperipatus braziliensis and Macroperipatus geayi from Panama. 2. The retina contains two kinds of cells: pigmented (supportive) and sensory. Each sensory cell bears at its distal end a long process from which extend orderly arrays of straight microvim. 3. Rudimentary cilia are found at the bases of the receptoral processes, enclosed in extracellular spaces which suggest that the cilia became recessed into the sensory cells in development. The photoreceptor of peripatus is classified as rhabdomeric rather than ciliary in type. 4. The photoreceptors of peripatus resemble those of annelids in some features and those of arthropods in other respects. 5. Each sensory cell possesses an axon which runs through the collagenous capsule of the eye and to the brain via the optic nerve. 6. The cornea consists of one or two cuticular layers, an outer cellular layer which is a continuation of the epidermis and which secretes the corneal cuticle, and an inner layer of cells which is continuous with the retina and which secretes the lens, a large finely granular body. Between the cellular layers is a narrow band of collagen.

Early morphological changes in the connective tissue of rats around an implanted cellophane disk

Cellophane films (1×3 cm in size) and small pieces of cellophane were implanted subcutaneously to rats. These animals were sacrificed at different intervals ranging from 7 days to 7 months. Connective tissue changes occurring around the films after the implantation were studied with the aid of various morphological and histochemical methods. In 3–4 months 3 zones could be distinguished in the capsule around the films: 1) pericapsular layer, 2) capsula proper, and 3) internal layer containing proliferating cells. Chromotrophic acid mucopolysaccharides were present in the collagenous capsule up to the end of 7 months; the presence of such mucopolysaccharides may be regarded as an indication of an incomplete process of collagen formation. Foci of cellular proliferation were present in the “capsula proper” and in the internal proliferative layer. The author briefly discusses the role of prolonged collagen formation and of the focal cell proliferation in the mechanism of plastic cancerogenesis.

Roentgen Diagnosis of Glomus Tumors

Tumors of the subcutaneous neuromyoarterial plexus, the glomus body, are uncommon but are by no means as rare as would be indicated by their relatively late recognition as a histopathologic entity. During the past ten years, 18 such tumors have been observed in the Massachusetts General Hospital. During the same period 580,000 patients have been admitted to the hospital service, and 82,000 surgical specimens have been received in the Department of Pathology, which makes an occurrence of one glomus tumor in approximately 32,000 hospital admissions, and one in 4,500 surgical specimens of all types. The cutaneous neuro-myoarterial glomus is a minute specialized body composed of an afferent arteriole, a tortuous arteriovenous anastomosis (the Sucquet-Hoyer canal), a system of collecting veins, and a neurovascular reticulum which regulates the flow of blood through the anastomosis (11). The whole is surrounded by a dense collagenous capsule which separates it from the dermis in which it lies buried about 0.5 m...