Telocytes in Exocrine Glands Stroma
Stroma is viewed as the supportive framework of a predominant epithelial organ, comprising mostly of connective tissue, blood vessels and nerves. Since the discovery of telocytes one decade ago (Popescu and Faussone-Pellegrini J Cell Mol Med 2010;14(4):72
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Telocytes in Exocrine Glands Stroma Mihnea Ioan Nicolescu
Abstract Stroma is viewed as the supportive framework of a predominant epithelial organ, comprising mostly of connective tissue, blood vessels and nerves. Since the discovery of telocytes one decade ago (Popescu and Faussone-Pellegrini J Cell Mol Med 2010;14(4):729–40), their presence was proven in several exocrine gland stromata, including major and minor salivary glands, mammary glands as well as exocrine pancreas. Telocytes have been found in a close connection with acinar and ductal structures but also with their stromal neighbours – nerves, blood vessels or other connective elements, either cells or collagen fibres. The approaches used to reveal the telocytes’ location were immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy.
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Salivary Glands
Saliva is produced by major and minor salivary glands. The first are responsible for about 90 % of the total salivary secretion. In humans, major/main salivary glands are the parotid, submandibular and sublingual pairs. The differences between their saliva are due to the differences in their cellular repertoire, namely, exclusively serous acini in parotids and mixed in the other two, with a mucous predominance in the sublinguals. Intriguingly, the telocytes’ location did not show any significant difference between the major salivary glands. Their existence was suggested by immunohistochemistry and proven by electron microscopy, the most reliable technique for the direct identification of a cell or group of cells in a given tissue.
M.I. Nicolescu, MD, DMD, OMS, PhD, MSc Histology and Cytology Department, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 8 Eroilor Sanitari, RO-050474 Bucharest, Romania “Victor Babeș” National Institute of Pathology, Bucharest, Romania e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 X. Wang, D. Cretoiu (eds.), Telocytes, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 913, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-1061-3_11
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M.I. Nicolescu
In parotid glands, vimentin-positive cells were making stromal networks surrounding the acini, while others resided in septa (Fig. 11.1). Solitary CD117+ with long, moniliform processes were identified within the intraparotid large septa, around ducts and blood vessels. Although a defining trait of myoepithelial cells, smooth muscle α-actin also showed positive results on interacinar cells, outside their basal laminae, that sent long prolongations between and around parotid acini [5]. In adult submandibular glands (Fig. 11.2), CD117 exhibited positivity around ducts (panel A) and nerves (B and D panels) or in scarce interstitial location (panel C). Only excretory ducts presented surrounding CD117+ cells, while no positivity was encountered around striated or intercalary ducts in foetal samples (Fig. 11.3). In major salivary glands, CD117 marked preferentially the actual body of telocytes, while telopodes (the long, peculiar, moniliform prolongations of telocytes) were positive for vimentin and smooth muscle α-actin. Both
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