Rigonfiamento Pallido Del Nucleo

The present paper reports results of a study of cytologic smears obtained from a group of research gynecological patients and is concerned with inflammatory and precancer conditions that show cells with « perinuclear halos ». It is pointed out that the pathological degenerations of the cytoplasm are initially similar to granules, vacuoles, or drops, which later grow and conglomerate, pushing the nucleus to the periphery. In the clear cells the morphological picture is very different: the pale area always surrounds the chromatin, growing from the center to the periphery, and being separated from the cytoplasm by a clearcut membrane. The lesion is thus considered as a « pale turgescence of the nucleus », caused by an acute or chronic irritation, resulting in an alteration of the physicochemical equilibrium between the nucleoplasm and the hyaloplasm. Some considerations in favour of this theory are presented, but future cytochemical and electromicroscopical studies will complete this first morphological finding.