[Biology of the female reproductive tract of the mink, Mustela vison Schreeber, 1777. I. Morphology of the endometrium during anestrous].
The mink uterus (corpus uteri and cornua uteri) during anestrous was examined by SEM and TEM. The endometrium of the uterine horn forms 5 longitudinal mounds and a sequence of circularly arranged mucosal pillows on the antimesometrial side of the horn. Up to 8 longitudinal mounds, however, may appear in the corpus uteri. The epithelial cells of the endometrium are characterized by extended depots of glycogen, sometimes disintegrated by electronopaque areas. Numerous elongated mitochondria are located particularly in the supranuclear region. Cisternae of the rough endoplasmatic reticulum are rare. Golgi bodies are not very prominent. Small secretory granules of different structure are located particularly in the supranuclear region. During late anestrous, however, these granules occur in the apical cell region. Other characteristic organelles of the endometrial epithelium are lamellar bodies of varying size, shape and structure. Possibly they are lysosomelike deposits of phospholipids. Up to now development and function of these lamellar bodies are unknown. Ciliated cells are rarely seen during anestrous. Light cells with dendritic processes--similar to the cells of Langerhans--are also visible among the columnar epithelial cells. The uterine gland cells are nearly free of glycogen and lamellar bodies. But secretory granules of varying size do exist during the whole anestrous.
D000780:Anestrus; D000818:Animals; D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004717:Endometrium / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004971:Estrus; D005260:Female; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008907:Mink / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011247:Pregnancy
Zur Biologie der weiblichen Reproduktionsorgane des Nerzes, Mustela vison Schreber, 1777. I. Morphologie des Endometriums im Anoestrus.