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Figure 1. Clinical (A,B) and histological (C–F) characteristics of hereditary gingival fibromatosis (B,D,F), as compared with healthy gingiva (A,C,E). Clinical picture of gingiva from a young healthy adult (A) and from a 7-year-old patient with hereditary gingival fibromatosis (HGF) (B). (C,D) Hematoxylin and eosin staining. In HGF, epithelium is thickened and displays narrow, elongated rete pegs that penetrate deep into the connective tissue (D), while in normal marginal gingiva, the epithelium is thin and rete pegs are shorter (C). In addition, cell density in the connective tissue in HGF appears lower (D) as compared with normal tissue (C). Hematoxylin- and eosin-stained samples examined under a microscope equipped with a UV light source and rhodamine filter are shown in E and F. Typical basket-weave organization of collagen is noted in the normal gingiva (E), while in HGF, collagen is organized into thick parallel fiber bundles (F). Fig. 1B was kindly provided by Dr. Hannu Larjava, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. E, epithelium; CT, connective tissue. Magnification bar, 50 µm.
