The ulstratructure of reticulin.
The electron microscopic examination of various organs and tumours of different species proved that the ultrastructural equivalent of reticulin fibres is not a uniform substance. Reticulin fibres are either basement membranes or an amorphous mass which appears as argyrophil fibres under the light microscope. Microfibrils may in some cases produce an argyrophilic reticulum. The claimed identity of reticulin and collagen can partly be explained by the chemical similarity of collagen and basement membranes. It seems possible, moreover, that the amorphous mass and microfibrils, which may be an ultrastructural substrate of reticulin, are composed of a material essentially similar to that of collagen.
D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002415:Cats; D003094:Collagen; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006801:Humans; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D012157:Mononuclear Phagocyte System / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D012155:Reticulin; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
D012155:Reticulin; D003094:Collagen