THE NATURE OF MULTINUCLEATED CELLS IN THE NASOPHARYNX.
Exfoliated multinucleated epithelial cells were shown to be present in nasopharyngeal smears from patients with moniliasis, tuberculous lesions, and non-specific chronic inflammations of the nasopharynx. Multinucleated cells found in the nasopharynx were cytologically similar to the so-called measles giant cells. Because of the association of these cells with a number of chronic inflammatory lesions, their function is probably related to phagocytosis. In evidence thereof, a few multinucleated cells, presumably of epithelial origin, showed phagocytosed particles within their cytoplasm. This view is also based on corroborative evidence given by a number of workers that epithelial cells in the respiratory mucosa and in the endometrium were shown to assume phagocytic functions comparable to those of free histiocytes.
D002177:Candidiasis; D002467:Cell Nucleus; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D005260:Female; D015726:Giant Cells; D006801:Humans; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms; D009305:Nasopharynx; D010336:Pathology; D010587:Phagocytosis; D010612:Pharyngitis; D014376:Tuberculosis
CELL NUCLEUS; CYTODIAGNOSIS; MONILIASIS; NASOPHARYNGEAL NEOPLASMS; NASOPHARYNX; PATHOLOGY; PHAGOCYTOSIS; PHARYNGITIS; TUBERCULOSIS