An ultrastructural study of osmiophilia in the human rectum

Rectal biopsies from subjects with a normal rectum and from patients with various forms of inflammatory bowel disease were studied by the prolonged osmication technique. No consistent ultrastructural differences were observed between these groups, but there were striking differences between individual epithelial cells in the same biopsy and between the epithelium and the cells of the lamina propria. The Golgi apparatus was demonstrated occasionally in the epithelium, often in endothelium. Endoplasmic reticulum, perinuclear cisterna and mitochondria were variably outlined. In plasma cells, there were striking differences in osmiophilia. The underlying mechanism of the different staining patterns is not clear. The findings do not appear to help in the differential diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease nor to shed any new light on their underlying pathogenic mechanisms.