Nuclear bodies: A component of cell nuclei in hamster tissues and human tumors

Nuclear bodies which are seen as 1-1.5 μ large, fibrous whorls in some cell nuclei have been recorded in the present study in cells from a number of human tumors; lymph nodes, bone marrow and spleen of patients with leukemia and Hodgkin's disease; neurons in Dawson's subacute sclerosing leukoencephalitis; renal tubular cells in cytomegalic inclusion disease; and in cells from choroid plexus in two normal infants. In this study, large nuclear bodies were seen most frequently in the reticuloendothelial cells of thymus, lymph nodes, and spleen of hamsters carrying intraperitoneal transplants of human leukemic lymphoblasts. In many cases, interchromatinic granules and small masses of chromatin are seen associated with the fibrous nuclear bodies. On the basis of some preliminary histochemical staining and enzyme extractions, it appears probable that the fibrous nuclear bodies do not contain any DNA or RNA but may have proteins in their structure.