Summary
The ecchordosis physaliphora, a small gelatinous mass attached to the midline of the clivus, is characterized ultrastructurally by glycogen-laden intracytoplasmic vacuoles, focally distended endoplasmic reticulum and perinuclear cisterns with cytoplasmic invaginations, large clusters of granular endoplasmic reticulum interdigitating with mitochondria, and an abundant extracellular space.
These morphologic features are also present in the 9-day embryonal chick notochord and the human chordoma and serve to reaffirm the derivation of the ecchordosis and chordoma from notochordal rests.
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The authors wish to thank Dr. Mary M. Herman for her help and guidance in this work. Supported by Graduate Neuropathology Training Grant 5T01 NS-5500-10 from the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, U.S. Public Health Service.
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Horten, B.C., Montague, S.R. Human ecchordosis physaliphora and chick embryonic notochord. Virchows Arch. A Path. Anat. and Histol. 371, 295–303 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428050
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428050