Morphological study and comprehensive cellular constituents of milky spots in the human omentum

作者：Liu, Jiu-Yang; Yuan, Jing-Ping; Geng, Xia-Fei; Qu, Ai-Ping; Li, Yan^*

来源：International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology, 2015, 8(10): 12877-12884.

• Milky spot
• omentum
• gastric cancer
• rectal cancer
• peritoneal metastasis

Objective: To analyze morphological features of omental milky spots (MS). Method: Hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemistry technique were used to study the omental MS of gastric cancer (GC) patients and rectal cancer (RC) patients. We focused on morphological features of MS and conducted quantitative analysis on the cells number and cellular constituents. Differences in MS parameters between GC and RC were also analyzed. Results: Various shapes of MS were mainly round, oval, irregular form in the adipose and perivascular annular. The median MS perimeter was 2752 (range 817 similar to 7753) computer-based pixels. The median value of immune cells in one MS was 141 (43 similar to 650), comprising T lymphocytes (46.1%), B lymphocytes (28.4%), macrophages (12.4%) and other immune cells (13.1%). Relatively high density of vessels in MS could be calculated by microvessel density (MVD) as 4 (0 similar to 13). The median value of mesothelial cells loosely arranged in the surface layer was 5 (0 similar to 51). There were no significant differences in MS perimeter, MVD, the number of mesothelial cells, total immune cells, T lymphocytes and macrophages between GC and RC (P > 0.05), while the number of MS B lymphocytes in RC was significantly higher than that in GC (P < 0.001). Conclusion: MS are primary immune tissues in the omentum and structural bases for development and progression of peritoneal dissemination of GC and RC. Analyzing the morphology and cellular constituents could help understanding the mechanism of peritoneal metastasis.

• 出版日期2015
• 单位武汉大学