We read with interest the article “Interstitial adipocytes in the Beagle dog and New Zealand White rabbit choroid plexus” in the recent issue of Toxicologic Pathology.
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The authors present an unusual histologic observation in the choroid plexus of the Beagle dog and New Zealand White rabbit involving variable numbers of round, clear, vacuolated cells. They concluded, based on the morphology of the cells, that these cells were adipocytes. Unfortunately, no special staining, such as Oil Red O or Sudan Black B, was done to definitively show that these cells were indeed adipocytes.
A recent article published in the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation
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and presented as a case by the Joint Pathology Center
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demonstrated cells with very similar morphology in the eyelid of a horse, but special staining techniques revealed these cells to be a clear cell variant of squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, we need to be careful not to assume everything that looks like an adipocyte, especially when it is located in an unusual location, is an adipocyte.
We encourage authors to perform special stains to definitively identify cells with this morphology as adipocytes.
Submitted by,
Naomi M. Gades
Department of Comparative Medicine, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Sharon M. Dial
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
