ULTRASTRUCTURE OF NORMAL EPITHELIAL-CELLS IN PAPANICOLAOU STAINED CERVICAL SMEARS - APPLICATION OF A MODIFIED OPEN-FACE EMBEDDING TECHNIQUE FOR TRANSMISSION ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 23  (6) , 507-515
Abstract
The results of an open-face embedding technique applied to Papanicolaou-stained [human] uterine cervical smears are presented. By this technique, cells are smeared on a plastic sheet, fixed in 1.5% buffered glutaraldehyde and stained by the Papanicolaou method; areas of special interest are then selected by light microscopy for EM observations. A comparison is possible between the light microscopic characteristics of cells in smear preparations and their ultrastructural counterparts. The good ultrastructural preservation allowed detailed study of nuclei and cytoplasm. The endocervical cells had intact nuclei with nuclear envelope, Golgi apparatus, well-preserved mitochondria and 2 types of secretory material. The superficial and intermediate squamous cells showed loss of desmosomes; dense, fine cytoplasmic fibrils; small, fatty droplets; and degenerated nuclei with loss of the nuclear envelope. Compared with ultrastructural studies on cervical tissues, the intermediate cells in cervical smears were more degenerated, presumably because predominantly degenerated intermediate cells exfoliate. The light microscopic impression of the nuclear appearance is apparently misleading: in the routine smear the nuclei of superficial and intermediate cells may look intact and well preserved whereas ultrastructurally the nuclei are degenerated. [Comparison of normal and neoplastic cell changes was discussed].

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