The Natural History of Uterine Leiomyomas: Light and Electron Microscopic Studies of Fibroid Phases, Interstitial Ischemia, Inanosis, and Reclamation
Figure 3
Phenotypic transformation from smooth muscle cells to fibroblast-like cells. In (a), the cells in the center and to the right are in close fascicular apposition and exhibit the typical pink cytoplasm of smooth muscle cells, while the cells above and to the left are more widely separated and have a paler cytoplasm resembling that of fibroblasts. Note that as the smooth muscle cells at the bottom (long arrow) appear to stream upwards and then to the right, there is a morphologic transformation to fibroblast-like cells with paler cytoplasm (short arrows). A similar transformation is noted in (b) as the organized, closely packed smooth muscle cells with pinker cytoplasm at the top (short arrow) transform into more widely spaced, paler fibroblast-like cells in the bottom half (long arrow). Note that the transformed cells have already produced a collagenous stroma (arrowhead), and that the cytoplasm of the transformed cells is less distinct and not clearly contiguous with that of their neighbors. Original magnification of (a) and (b): 66x.
