Gonadoblastoma: structures and background of development.
Based on earlier studies relative to development and maturation of human gonads, a hypothesis is presented, namely, that the production of "psammoma bodies" in gonadoblastoma, as well as intensification of calcification and hyalinization processes, may be an expression of recapitulation of the involution phase of the indifferent gonad and the terminal phase of proliferating activity in the sex cords of such lesions. It is also suggested that pathologic structures found in the medulla of the ovaries of fetuses and newborn infants favor the development of gonadoblastomas and that the latter are formed as the result of dysfunction of a genetic system controlling gonadal maturation and thus are not "neoplasms."
D000328:Adult; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000473:pathology; D004407:Dysgerminoma / Q000196:embryology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000196:embryology / Q000473:pathology*; D012741:Sexual Maturation