BMJ 1994;309:542-543 (20 August)

Letters

Genesis of apoptosis

EDITOR, - H Konrad Muller's preoccupation with historical accuracy in his letter on apoptotic priorities1 would be served better by studying an earlier period.

Robert Schroder described the phenomenon in 1914 in a paper on menstruation2 regularly cited in earlier monographs on gynaecological pathology3 for its originality, merit, and acclaimed diagnostic value. With exemplary deduction he described the presence, significance, and immense predictive power of the minute particles of pyknotic chromatin which appear in the subnuclear zone of the endometrial glands in the two or three days before menstruation.

Although well aware that the chromatin granules were products of individual cell death (Kernzerfallsfigurin), Schroder wisely named them without any hint of functional speculation or interpretation. His very simple descriptive term, Pyknosen, describes vividly and unerringly exactly what is seen - pyknotic bodies.

Schroder's illustration, made without the benefit of photomicrography, is executed to perfection in pen and ink, aided only . . . [Full text of this article]


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