jriSCELLANBOUS NOTES 



3G9 



Peculiak Bodies found in the Intestinal Lymphoid Follicles 



OF AN Egyptian 



BY 



A. C. Stevenson, M.B., M.E.C.S., L.E.C.P. (Lond.), D.P.H. (Cantab. 



(Plate XXII., figs. 2-6) 



This plate is to illustrate peculiar bodies found in the solitary lymphoid follicles 

 of the small intestine of a man, an Egyptian, who died suddenly in Khartoum. The 

 tissue was sent home to me by Dr. Balfour on the chance of the case being one of 

 coccidiosis of the intestine, the macroscopic appearance being practically the same as 

 that seen in coccidiosis of the goat's intestine which we had observed shortly before, 

 and which is described elsewhere {vide page 355). 



On section the epithelial cells of the mucous membrane were found to be practically 

 destroyed, only a' few cells, and those degenerate, being seen in the depths of the glands. 

 How much of this was due to post mortem changes I cannot estimate. In the sub- 

 epithelial layers of the villi, there seems an excess of cellular elements which are either 

 very degenerate or possibly parasitic. Stained by iron hiBmatoxylin and orange the 

 majority of these cells show an indefinite unstained nucleus with one or more small 

 chromatin dots ; the few remaining cells stain normally so far as the nucleus is concerned. 

 If parasitic they are possibly amoeba (? histolytica), but I am more inclined to think 

 them degenerate tissue cells. 



At the periphery of the lymphoid follicles and at their base are the masses illustrated 

 (Plate XXII., figs. 2 and 4). They are large cells, probably the endothelial cells of the 

 lymph spaces, swollen up so as to occupy practically the whole lumen, and packed with 

 small round and oval bodies of about 1-5^ in longest diameter. These small bodies, when 

 stained as mentioned above, are greenish in colour, generally show a black dot in their 

 substance and the larger of them are usually situated nearer the centre of the mass than 

 the smaller. Larger bodies of the same staining reactions were also seen in cells but 

 were few in number (Plate XXII., fig. 3). Stained by Giemsa, the stain being used in 

 the same method as Twort's for Entamceba coli, the clusters of small bodies are a bluish- 

 purple while the ordinary nuclei are greenish-blue and the rest of the tissue pink. 



Bacilli were seen in only one or two sections stained by Twort's stain. They were 

 scattered and of large size, resembling those seen in much post mortem tissue in 

 Khartoum. Tubercle bacilli were examined for but not found. 



What is the nature of these bodies? Are they parasitic or are they massed in the 

 cells by phagocytosis ? I do not think they can be remains of the dead cells in the 

 sub-epithelial layers as they stain absolutely differently with Giemsa, but on the other 

 hand their colour by iron hasmatoxylin and orange closely resembles that of degenerative 

 blood corpuscles in cells. 



I have not found any of the larger bodies in the Giemsa-stained sections, so cannot 

 say what their staining reaction is, but their presence certainly might suggest a parasitic 

 origin for the smaller. 



Since writing the above, I have found some very similar masses of bodies in snnilar 

 situations in the stomach of a mouse which was in apparently good health. 



Position of 

 Ihe masses 



