Extracellular cross-striated banded structures in human connective tissue.

Extracellular cross-striated banded structures have been found in the connective tissues of a variety of organs. Rarely have they been found in conditions such as: hyperplastic parathyroid, follicular adenoma of the thyroid, metastatic hemangiopericytoma in the lung, sarcoidosis of lymph node, and two biopsies of nerve as reported here. The shape and size of the structure varies, as well as its periodicity, which is usually in the range of 1000 to 15000 A. An unusual exception to this general rule is the banded structure in the follicular adenoma of the thyroid where the periodicity is 270 A. These structures are quite different from native collagen or experimentally reconstituted long-space collagen, both by staining reaction with phosphotungstic acid or uranyl acetate and lead nitrate, and in their ultrastructural morphology.