Abstract
Cell samples were taken by cervical scraping from 26 cases of severe dysplasia, 33 cases of carcinoma in situ and 21 cases of microinvasive carcinoma.
Morphological features of the nucleus were examined with the Papanicolaou stained specimens. Moreover, based on the changes of nuclear size, nuclear DNA content and Hematoxylin densed substances by a microspectrophotmetric measurements in both of Feulgen stained DNA and Pap-1 labeled specimens, observation of a difference between carcinoma in situ and microinvasive carcinoma was attempted.
1) Hyperchromasia, increased nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio and anisokaryosis in morphological changes were remarkably recognized in the cells of carcinoma in situ. On the other hand, coasely densed hyperchromasia was much more marked in the cells derived from microinvasive carcinoma in contrast to carcinoma in situ.
2) In karyometric analysis, when nuclear size was enlarged beyond 13μ in Feulgen stained specimens and 12μ in Pap-1 stained specimens, such cellsas having more enlarged nucleus tended to frequently appears in microinvasive carcinoma than in carcinoma in situ, although similar patterns were obtained in the two groups.
3) It was impossible to differentiate the cells of microinvasive carcinoma from those of carcinoma in situ from the results of nuclear DNA content determined.
4) The cells of microinvasive carcinoma showed a remarkable increase of Hematoxylin densed substances in the nucleus.
5) To distinguish deffernce between carcinoma in situ and microinvasive carcinoma, it might be useful to investigate the changes of RNA and other proteins associated with DNA content in the nucleus.
