新生児の臓器発育と脂肪織に関する病理組織学的研究

With 131 newborn infants and fetuses which suffered death and underwent post mortem examination in the past 7 years at our department as subjects, we conducted morphological survey of adipose tissue in various parts of the body with reference to the degree of differentiation, and obtained following results.<BR>(1) Adipose tissue in various parts of the body differentiated and grew proportionately to gestation period. Markedly good differentiation was seen in subjects which passed the 37 th gestation week.<BR>(2) Though the tendency mentioned in (1) was observed in adipose tissue in every part of the body, some variation existed. To cite specific findings :<BR>i) Adipose tissue surrounding the adrenal frequently displayed markedly poor differentiation as compared with the standard in the corresponding gestation time<BR>ii) Process of differentiation was not uniform in adipose tissue surrounding the mediastinum and thyroid, as seen in the fact that adipose tissue in some case remained conspicuously undifferentiated while that in another showed markedly good differentiation:<BR>iii) Subcutaneous adipose tissue demonstrated markedly good differentiation as compared with the standard in the corresponding gestation time in all the cases, strong tendency to differentiate being conspicuous already in the 28 th gestation week in some cases. Variation in the differentiation of subcutaneous adipose tissue was not seen among various parts of the body<BR>(3) Regarding body weight at birth, the less the body weight, the poorer the differentiation was. Tendency to differentiate was conspicuous among subjects which weighed more than 2, 300 gm.<BR>(4) No positive correlation was found between the degree of differntiation and days of survival<BR>(5) As for gestation period and body weight at birth, longer gestation period was associated with better differentiation among those with the same weight.<BR>(6) As for gestation period and days of survival, longer survival period tended to be associated with better differentiation among those with the same gestation period.<BR>(7) No positive correlation was found between body weight at birth and days of survival<BR>(8) From the viewpoint of principal histopathological changes, poor differentiation was conspicuous among those which showed insufficient growth of organs, disturbances of central nervous system and circulation, insufficient pulmonary aeration, particularly insufficient expansion of lungs, and the presence of hyaline membrane in the lungs. Undifferentiation was also seen in cases of serious deformity. No specific finding was obtained in cases of other diseases<BR>(9) Inspection of the relationship between the degree of differentiation of adipose tissue and organ growth as well as extramedullary hematopoietic tissue revealed that adipose tissue was less differentiated in cases of less differentiation of organs, and that poor differentiation of adipose tissue was more conspicuous among those which showed marked residual of extramedullary hematopoietic tissue.<BR>(10) To conclude, highly positive correlation existed between the degree of differentiation of adi-pose tissue and histopathologically viewed growth of the newborn infant. The degree of differentiation was further confirmed to be closely correlated with morphologically viewed growth of organs and the degree to which extramedullary hematopoietic tissue remained.