Endometrial Adenocarcinoma in a Mare

Abstract

Steroidogenic cells found in the antebrachial organ of the skin in the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur c a m ) have been studied ultrastructurally [5]. These cells often contained crystalloid inclusions in the cytoplasm morphologically indistinguishable from those seen in the woolly monkey. The authors concluded that the crystalloid was an organelle of steroid synthesis. The Reinke crystal, found in the ovarian hilar cell and the testicular interstitial cell of man, resembles the crystalloid of the lemur and the woolly monkey, although there are several morphological differences; presently, no functional significance has been ascribed to the Reinke crystal [4, 51. A study of the female genital tract of owl monkeys [l] described the proliferation of interstitial cell masses comprised of two cell types in the medulla and hilus of the ovary. The conclusion of this study was that the cells differentiated from cortical stroma and theca interna and the masses functioned as corpora lutea. The intercellular canalicular system and microvilli were not observed in those studies. This structural feature has been described in theca granulosa cells and virilizing lipid cell tumor of the ovary in a woman and was interpreted as a system for transport of steroid precursors [3]. The proliferation of interstitial cells in our case is probably a normal process similar to that described in other new world primates. The cytoplasmic crystalloids and the intercellular canalicular system have not been reported in the ovary of the woolly monkey or other nonhuman primate species. It is possible that these structures are associated with the proposed endocrine function of these interstitial cells.