[Collagen gel culture of human thyroid cancers].

When seeded on collagen gel surface, human thyroid cells from normal tissue or carcinoma form a monolayer. When the isolated cells are embedded inside the collagen gel, they reorganize into three-dimensional structures. The cells isolated from normal tissue, adenoma, or well-differentiated follicular carcinoma show the typical arrangement of follicular thyroid cells: the apical poles, characterized by microvilli, are oriented towards the follicular lumen; intercellular junctions are present. In contrast, in the papillary and moderately-differentiated follicular carcinomas, the cells are hardly ever associated, and ultrastructural nuclear anomalies are often observed.