The nature of multinucleated cells in the nasopharynx

Exfoliated multinucleated epithelial cells were shown to be present in nasopharyngeal smears from patients with moniliasis, tuberculous lesions, and non-specific chronic inflammations of the nasopharynx. Multinucleated cells found in the nasopharynx were cytologically similar to the so-called measles giant cells. Because of the association of these cells with a number of chronic inflammatory lesions, their function is probably related to phagocytosis. In evidence thereof, a few multinucleated cells, presumably of epithelial origin, showed phagocytosed particles within their cytoplasm. This view is also based on corroborative evidence given by a number of workers that epithelial cells in the respiratory mucosa and in the endometrium were shown to assume phagocytic functions comparable to those of free histiocytes.