Scanning electron microscopy of normal cells, dyskaryotic cells and malignant cells exfoliated from the uterine cervix.
The same exfoliated benign, dyskaryotic and malignant cervical cells were observed by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy in order to investigate the reflection of the course of malignancy in the surface ultrastructure. The surface ultrastructural features (microridges and microvilli) of normal squamous cells and metaplastic cells showed regularities, with an approximately even thickness, length and distribution of microvilli. In dyskaryotic cells of the superficial type, the microridgelike structure was retained, and some regularity of the microvilli remained. However, in dyskaryotic cells of the deep-layer type, the microvillous surface ultrastructure had a pronounced irregularity and diversity. In malignant cells, there was unevenness in the projections and in the thickness of the cytoplasm, and these cells presented, as a whole, a bizarre appearance. The surface ultrastructure of malignant cells thus reflected a strong atypia of the cytoplasm.
D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008679:Metaplasia; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008871:Microvilli / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000648:ultrastructure*