Electron-microscopic aspects of Hodgkin's disease

Lymph nodes from patients with Hodgkin's disease of the nodular sclerosis or mixed cellularity type were examined by electron microscopy to classify all the cells that occur in these types of lymphoma. Most of the cells showed morphological features that were the same, or nearly the same, as those of cells of normal lymphoid tissue. These included typical interdigitating reticulum cells (IDC), histiocytic reticulum cells, so-called dark reticulum cells, and sinus macrophages. There were also small and medium-sized lymphocytes, immunoblasts, plasma cells, and plasma cell precursors resembling those seen in non-specific lymphadenitis. Germinal center cells, on the other hand, were present in negligible numbers. Special attention was paid to Hodgkin's (H) and Sternberg-Reed (SR) cells. This group of cells proved to be heterogeneous. The only common features were a large cell size, large nuclei, and a prominent nucleolus. Some of the H and SR cells resembled immunoblasts of normal lymphoid tissue. The cytoplasm of these cells contained numerous polyribosomes, and their heterochromatin was coarsely condensed at the nuclear membrane. Other H and SR cells were more similar to histiocytic cells or reticulum cells because of the large number of cell organelles (e.g., lysosome-like granules) and diffuse heterochromatin. Finally, cases of the nodular sclerosis type of Hodgkin's diseases showed another cell type with some resemblance to IDC. The cells of this type are called lacunar cells because of their special light-microscopic appearance.