Schiller–Duval body is a cellular structure seen by

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...

in endodermal sinus tumors (yolk sac tumors) which are the most common testicular cancer in children. Schiller-Duval bodies are present in approximately 50% of these tumors, and if found are pathognomonic. They are named for

Mathias-Marie Duval Mathias-Marie Duval (7 February 1844 – 28 February 1907) was a French professor of anatomy and histology born in Grasse. He was the son of botanist Joseph Duval-Jouve (1810–1883). Biography He studied medicine in Paris, and later served as p ...

and

Walter Schiller Dr. Walter Schiller (3 December 1887, Vienna – 2 May 1960, Evanston, Illinois) was an American pathologist. He published primarily in the field of gynaecological cancer, and described Schiller's test and Schiller-Duval bodies. Biography ...

who described them in the late nineteenth century. Schiller–Duval bodies are said to resemble a

glomerulus ''Glomerulus'' () is a common term used in anatomy to describe globular structures of entwined vessels, fibers, or neurons. ''Glomerulus'' is the diminutive of the Latin ''glomus'', meaning "ball of yarn". ''Glomerulus'' may refer to: * the filter ...

.Kumar, Abbas, Fausto. ''Pathologic Basis of Disease, 7th edition.'' Philadelphia; Elsevier-Saunders, 2005. 1101. They have a

mesoderm The mesoderm is the middle layer of the three germ layers that develops during gastrulation in the very early development of the embryo of most animals. The outer layer is the ectoderm, and the inner layer is the endoderm.Langman's Medical E ...

al core with a central

capillary A capillary is a small blood vessel from 5 to 10 micrometres (μm) in diameter. Capillaries are composed of only the tunica intima, consisting of a thin wall of simple squamous endothelial cells. They are the smallest blood vessels in the body: ...

, all lined by flattened layers of both visceral and parietal cells.

Immunofluorescent Immunofluorescence is a technique used for light microscopy with a fluorescence microscope and is used primarily on microbiological samples. This technique uses the specificity of antibodies to their antigen to target fluorescent dyes to specifi ...

stain may show eosinophilic

hyalin Hyalin is a protein released from the cortical granules of a fertilization, fertilized animal Egg (biology), egg. The released hyalin modifies the extracellular matrix of the fertilized egg to block other sperm from binding to the egg, and is kn ...

-like globules both inside and outside the

cytoplasm In cell biology, the cytoplasm is all of the material within a eukaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, except for the cell nucleus. The material inside the nucleus and contained within the nuclear membrane is termed the nucleoplasm. The ...

that contain AFP and

alpha 1-antitrypsin Alpha-1 antitrypsin or α1-antitrypsin (A1AT, α1AT, A1A, or AAT) is a protein belonging to the serpin superfamily. It is encoded in humans by the ''SERPINA1'' gene. A protease inhibitor, it is also known as alpha1–proteinase inhibitor (A1PI) ...

References

Andrology {{oncology-stub