[The composition of connective tissue in the normal and fibrocystic breast]

A recent immunofluorescent study has tried to define the precise nature of the macromolecules present in the connective tissue of normal and fibrocystic breasts. Nothing abnormal has been found in the distribution of the different types of collagen and of the two glycoproteins, namely fibronectin and laminin. A quantitative approach to the research into the composition of the organ has brought us to realise that there are different amounts of the constituents of the connective tissue to be found in 80 samples which have been taken from 4 specific regions of the breast. These have been taken from 16 women aged between 28 and 82 with a mean age of 57 years. Their breasts could be ascribed to different clinical and radiological categories. We have been able to show that there is a significant rise in the water content as well as in the collagen content and, to a lesser degree, in the total proteins of the body of the breast as compared with the fatty layer in front of the breast. This increase is compensated for by a significant lessening in the percentage of lipids. It was not possible to demonstrate a statistically significant difference between these two regions as far as the concentration of proteoglycans and glycoproteins. Fibrous types of breast have, in the main body of the breast, a significant increase in the percentage of water, collagen, proteoglycans and glycoproteins as compared with fatty breasts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)