Lymph node ultrastructure in hand-Schuller-Christian disease

A lymph node from a child with Hand-Schüller-Christian disease was studied by electron microscopy. It showed a larger infiltration of two types of cells in addition to ordinary reticulum cells (littoral cells)—Langcrhans' granule-containing histiocytes and undifferentiated reticulum cells. Since the former invariably had a fixed ultrastructure with indented nucleus, multivesicular bodies, and peculiar fat droplets in addition to the Langerhans' granules, they were thought to be a type of mesenchymal cell which might have some functions related to fat metabolism. The latter was characterized by the occasional presence of a strange intertwined tubular structure in the cytoplasm somewhat resembling profiles of paramyxovirus or measles virus. In this report, the authors show the intimate relationship between these two types of cells and Hand-Schüller-Christian disease.