Accumulation of Cholesterol Crystals in Diffusion Chambers implanted in Mice

Abstract

IN a recent report, Rose¹ described the appearance in tissue cultures of crystals which were ‘helical, tubular, ribbon-like, hexagonal, rhomboidal and filamentous’ in shape. He was unable to identify the nature of the crystals by cytochemical techniques. We were struck by this report because, over a period of years, we also had observed crystals with an identical variation in morphology in the peritoneal fluid in diffusion chambers implanted intraperitoneally in mice (technique described in ref. 2). Peritoneal fluid enters the chamber by passing through a Schleieher and Schuell ‘Very Dense’ cellulose membrane filter which has pores of a maximum diameter of 0.1µ through which cells cannot pass.