Polymorphonuclear granulocytes in rheumatic tissue destruction. II. Demonstration of PMNs in rheumatoid nodules by electron microscopy.

Necrotic areas of rheumatoid nodules were investigated electron microscopically. PMNs in different stages of disintegration were present in all cases. Granular material, sometimes in a fiberlike orientation, and small fibrils without periodicity were detected between the collagenous fibers. It is assumed that granular material and fibrillar remnants represent degraded collagen. Often these degradation products were present in the neighborhood of disintegrating PMNs. From this morphological relationship it is concluded that enzymes of PMNs may in part be responsible for the fibrinoid necrosis in rheumatoid nodules.