Angiomatosis Retinae, An Ultrastructural Study and Lipid Analysis.

摘要

A nonfamilial case of agiomatosis retinae (retinal hemangioblastoma) was studied by electron microscopy. In addition to the three major types of cells previously identified within the tumor (endothelial cells, pericytes, heavily lipidized stromal cells), fibrous astrocytes in different stages of lipidization were also found. The endothelial cells were fenestrated, providing the basis for the extravasated exudate that is characteristic of the tumor. The stromal cells contained abundant lipid vacuoles and a few organelles, and exhibited granular degeneration of cytoplasmic filaments between the lipid vacuoles. A source for the stromal cells was discovered in the early lipidization of fibrous astrocytes. Analysis of the extracted lipid from the tumor by means of infrared spectroscopy, lipid chromatography, and x-ray diffraction disclosed that the lipid was mostly cholestrol stearate, a plasma lipid.