A histochemical property of the oxyphil cells of the human parathyroid glands.

Parathyroid glands were removed from routine necropsy cases, being mainly elderly subjects of both sexes. Gelatine-embedded blocks of formalin-fixed and post-chromed tissue were prepared and stained by Baker's (1946) acid-haematin technique for the histochemical detection of phopholipids. Near-by sections (although not strictly serial) were stained by haematoxylin and eosin. In each case a second parathyroid gland was treated as for Baker's pyridineextraction-acid-haematin test. It would have been preferable to bisect a single gland and treat one half by the first part and the other by the second part of Baker's test, but, so far, glands of sufficient size have not been available. No attempt was made to make a quantitative study of the number of cells rich in phospholipid granules in each parathyroid gland examined.