Hyaline bodies in the connective tissue wall of odontogenic cysts

Hyaline bodies are sometimes encountered in the connective tissue wall of odontogenic cysts. In this study, various histomorphologic types of hyaline bodies were observed in a dentigerous cyst and a residual apical periodontal cyst. Some hyaline bodies appeared to be a coagulum of serum fluid surrounded by a small number of fibroblasts. Others appeared to be composed of fibrillar structures. Still others appeared to be a mixture of various amounts of serum coagulum and fibrillar structures. Immunoperoxidase procedures revealed various amounts of serum proteins in hyaline bodies. Gomori's trichrome stain and Mallory's staining technique showed that fibrillar structures were collagenous in nature. Electron microscopy showed that fibrillar structures were frayed collagen fibrils. These observations suggest that various histologic types of hyaline bodies represent different stages of development and that the basic pathogenic mechanism is pooling of extravasated serum followed by fibrosis.