Argyrophil cells in normal endometrial glands.

Normal endometrium from one hundred normal cases were examined histologically, using sections stained with the Grimelius method. Endocrine cells were demonstrated in 4 cases. Immunohistochemically, these cells were positive for anti-serotonin and anti-somatostatin antisera. Argyrophil granules were also observed in supranuclear or subnuclear regions of glandular cells in 17 cases, and argyrophilia was present in the apical region including the brush borders or microvilli of glandular cells in 6 cases. In these latter 23 cases argyrophilia seemed to be nonspecific, having no relation to endocrine type secretory granules, judging from the electronmicroscopic observations on the silver-impregnated sections. The presence of endocrine cells and the pattern of argyrophilia in glandular cells were similar to those found previously in endometrial glandular adenocarcinomas with argyrophil cells. This is the first report on the occurrence of endocrine cells in normal endometrial glands.