Jans Muller

Dopamine in paragangliomas of the glomus jugulare

Glomus jugulare tumors have the ability to synthesize, store, and secrete biogenic amines. Although the majority of these tumors remain endocrinologically silent, on rare occasions they present either as a pheochromocytoma or with a carcinoid syndrome. We report a 20‐year‐old male with two intracranial tumors: an intrasellar neoplasm and a glomus jugulare tumor. Catecholamine catabolites in the urine were not increased, and blood pressure was always normal. The pituitary tumor was an adenoma, immunostaining positive for prolactin. The second patient, a 29‐year‐old hypertensive male, with a glomus jugulare tumor, had increased vanillylmandelic‐acid excretion. In both cases, the paraganglioma tumor cells contained numerous dense‐core vesicles (125 to 380 nm in diameter) in electron microscopy, and showed intense fluorescence by the sucrose‐potassium phosphate‐glyoxylic acid method. Using high‐performance liquid chromatography and microspectrofluorometry we were able to establish the presence of large amounts of dopamine in the cytoplasm of the tumor cells.

Intracytoplasmic lumina in meningioma: an ultrastructural and immunohistological study.

Three surgically removed meningotheliomatous meningiomas with hyaline inclusions or pseudopsammoma bodies were studied. Ultrastructurally, the lumina seemed to be predominantly intracytoplasmic, defined by a systemic unit membrane; they displayed abundant microvilli and contained granular or filamentous material, vacuoles, vesicular bodies, and lamellar structure. The cytoplasm surrounding the intracytoplasmic lumina was electron-dense and contained tonofilaments and desmosomal junctions. All three meningiomas showed expression of carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin, and epithelial membrane antigen in the cells surrounding the hyaline bodies. Keratin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, and immunoglobulin M showed weak positive staining. There was widespread vimentin except in the cells with hyaline inclusions. Glial fibrillary acidic protein and S100 were negative. These results provide additional confirmation of immunohistochemical data that can serve as evidence for epithelial and secretory differentiation in meningiomas.