The ultrastructure of ganglioneuroblastoma

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Abstract
Material from human sympathetic ganglia and from 2 cases of ganglioneuroblastoma was studied electron microscopically. Two types of ganglion cells were observed, with possible transition forms between mature ganglion cells and smaller, less differentiated cells resembling neuroblasts. Stroma of the tumor was of axons in different maturation stages, often wrapped by expansions of Schwann cell cytoplasm. Schwann cells were often atypical with morphology of neoplastic cells. From these observations, it is derived that in ganglioneuroblastoma the ganglion cells are in different stages of maturation and that the accumulation of electron-dense particles in the nucleus and the prominent Nissl granules are consistent with an increase in the synthesis of nucleoproteins, as seen in other malignant neoplasms. This also correlates with the presence of immature axons in the stroma.