Electron Microscopy:
Ultrastructural features, however, showed that the diagnosis of
biphasic synovial sarcoma was erroneous. As shown in Figures 5
and 6, the tumor was indeed biphasic with luminal cells forming
gland- and duct-like structures, which were surrounded by one
or more layers of nonluminal tumor cells (Figs. 5 & 6). The
nonluminal cells had two distinctive features; one was varying
amounts of cytoplasmic tonofilaments and the other considerable
amounts of basal lamina and glycosaminoglycans in association
with these tumor cells (Figs. 5 & 6).
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| Figure 5. Microvillus-bearing epithelial cells enclose a glandular lumen (L) and are more closely associated than the surrounding polygonal to irregularly shaped nonluminal cells. It is the latter cells that are associated with foci of redundant basal lamina (arrows) and excess amounts of glycosaminoglycans both in relation to the basal lamina and between the nonluminal cells. | Figure 6. Higher magnification to show the relationship of the tonofilament-bearing (arrowheads) nonluminal cells to relatively large intercellular spaces lined by redundant basal lamina and containing glycosaminoglycans and elastic fibers. |
