Leprosy cell - (p. Leprosae, syn. Virchow cells) are cells found in the nervous system of a patient with a progressive and remitting form of leprosy. A characteristic manifestation of the disease is the formation of foci of destruction of neurocytes, which as a result divide through mitosis. During the process of division, chromatids diverge and in the kinetic phase, multiple mitoses occur in cell lobes, which manifests itself in the form of multiplied cells of the same type.
With the development of the disease, a leprosy-type cell is capable of losing its original function, transforming its structure and turning into macrophage cells involved in foci of inflammatory processes. Microcytic macrophages in a patient with encephalopathy appear as an unhealthy yellowish tint and large size. Actively decreasing to a macroscopic size under the influence of periphural immune reactions, leprosy cells are found among the erythroblast cells of the peripheral blood. In other regions, cells demonstrate their ability to transform with an increase in the degree of progression of the disease and an inability to recover independently. A distinctive feature of neurosarcoma is its significant size, reaching a diameter of 4 cm.
The process of morphogenesis is confirmed by a significant change in the cellular structure, both initially normal and transformed with the course of the disease. This makes it difficult to diagnose the disease. The emergence of the nervous system and the occurrence of hepatopathy in patients with M. Banti are determined by the involvement of cells with atypical structure in the cellular processes of parenchymal structures, infiltration of nerve fibers around small-caliber vessels, often forming thin-walled vessels of small diameter that do not have time to recover in a timely manner due to a decrease in the pool of stem cells and renewal of myelopathy (disease of “Mi cells” in the periphery. The formation of a foreign substance is also promoted by the pathology of extrasynaptic synapses, most often accompanied by the leprosy virus.
The results of processing the taken materials under electron microscopy confirm morphological damage to liver cells and gray-white chemical staining.