Summary
The stroma plays an important rol in tumoral invasion and metastasis. Type I collagen is the main structural component of the stroma in several tumors. However, there are few studies on salivary gland tumors. Based on this background the objective of the present communication was to study collagen characteristics with picrosirius red/polarization on malignant and benign tumors of salivary glands to evaluate its posible rol in the tumoral progression mechanism. Histological sections of pleomorphic adenoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma and epithelial/myoepithelial carcinoma were stained with H/E and picrosirius red and were studied with polarization microscope. Collagen birefringence with Picrosirius/polarization was different in the malignant tumor stroma (adenoid cystic carcinoma and epithelialmyoepithelial carcinoma), with predominance of type I collagen, compared with a benign tumor (pleomorphic adenoma), with predominance of type III collagen. The different staining profile in collagen fibers produced in the benign and malignant stroma tumors analized could be related with different tumoral expansion mechanism, which were scarce studied on the salivary glands tumors. More studies are needed to obtain more conclusive results to contribute to diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.
KEY WORDS: salivary glands, tumors, collagen, picrosirius, polarization, birefringence.
How to cite this article
SAMAR, M. E.; ÁVILA, R. E.; ASIS, O. G.; FONSECA, I. & CORBALL, A. Identification of type I and III collagen by picrosirius red/ polarization of tumoral salivary stroma. Int. J. Odontostomat., 6(1):59-64, 2012.
