Abnormal breast-tissue cellular finding Mammary ductal apocrine metaplasia 2026-02-26T08:53:03Z See Figure 1 of PMID:18042688. A biopsy finding in breast tissue of enlarged epithelial cells with abundant granular eosinophilic cytoplasm that can show apical snouting. Metaplastic apocrine cells within the breast are similar to normal axillary, areolar and perineal apocrine cells, having apocrine secretions and identical staining reactions. One of the reasons, however, that these are often not regarded as normal components is that examples of gradual metaplastic change from the normal cuboidal epithelium can be seen and cells with intermediate features can also be discerned on careful examination, suggesting that these are true metaplasia.