Corpora amylacea

Corpora amylacea in the prostate

Corpora amylacea (Latin for 'starch-like granules') are small hyaline bodies of unknown importance for the body. They were first discovered in the prostate by Giovanni Battista Morgagni in 1723 , but are also found in nerve tissue and in the alveoli . The term was coined by Jan Evangelista Purkyně because of the similarity in the coloring behavior with starch granules in plant cells, discovered by Rudolf Virchow . They arise from dead cells or thickened secretions and are more common with age.

The corpora amylacea in the prostate already occurs in children and are usually small and without visible stratification. In men they increase in size, have an irregular shape and show a distinct concentric layering, sometimes also radial patterns. Their color ranges from light yellow to brown to black. They are usually the size of a millet to a pea, but can be as large as a plum kernel and weigh up to 100 g.

Corpora amylacea in nerve tissue occur mainly in the astrocytes , rarely also in the axons. They occur mainly sub- ependymal and in the area of the olfactory tract and are between 10 and 50 µm in size, round and strongly basophilic . In the HE color , they appear gray or gray-blue. They react PAS-positive . Ultrastructurally, they consist of densely packed filaments with a diameter of about 6 nm and an amorphous material. Chemically, they are polyglucosans and proteins .

The corpora amylacea in the alveoli are round, 30 to 200 µm large structures, which consist of glycoproteins . They are colored pink in the HE and Papanicolaou staining , magenta in the PAS reaction and blue in the Masson trichrome staining . They show concentric stratification and radial stripes.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b H. Chiari, Friedrich Henke, Otto Lubarsch: Handbook of special pathological anatomy and histology . tape 3 . Springer, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-7091-5405-2 , pp. 440-441 .
↑ Werner Paulus among others: Pathology: Neuropathology . Springer, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-02324-8 , pp. 17 .
↑ Sudha R. Kini: Color Atlas of Pulmonary Cytopathology . Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin 2002, ISBN 978-0-387-95371-7 , p. 32 .

[Chiari-1] A ^b H. Chiari, Friedrich Henke, Otto Lubarsch: Handbook of special pathological anatomy and histology . tape 3 . Springer, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-7091-5405-2 , pp. 440-441 .

[2] Werner Paulus among others: Pathology: Neuropathology . Springer, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-02324-8 , pp. 17 .

[3] Sudha R. Kini: Color Atlas of Pulmonary Cytopathology . Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin 2002, ISBN 978-0-387-95371-7 , p. 32 .