Light and electron microscopic study of epithelial cells from the human oviduct and uterus subcultured on extracellular matrix gel
Eslaminejad, M.B.; Valojerdi, M.R.; Ashtiani, S.K.; Eftekhari-Yazdi, P.
Journal of Reproductive Medicine 52(6): 503-512
2007
ISSN/ISBN: 0024-7758 PMID: 17694968 Document Number: 605578
To investigate the structure of epithelial cells from the human oviduct and uterus on extracellular matrix (ECM) gel in the first passage. Human oviducts and endometrial tissues were obtained from patients undergoing total hysterectomy; the epithelial cells, having been isolated by enzyme digestion, were cultured on polystyrene plastic surfaces. The epithelial nature of the cells was confirmed by immunocytochemistry, and their morphology was examined by microscopy. Cells of an epithelial nature were then trypsinized and cultured on an ECM gel-coated filter insert for 5 days. The cells, in parallel with the tissues, were subsequently prepared for transmission electron microscopy. Plastic-cultured cells had no sign of differentiation and appeared as elongated spindle cells in sections. These cells looked columnar and highly polarized after being cultured on ECM gel surfaces. They were similar to epithelial cells from the corresponding tissue fragment. Cultured on ECM gel, the ciliated epithelial cells of human oviducts appeared ultrastructurally similar to glandular cells from the human uterus. Cilia did not form under culture conditions. It seems that human uterine and oviduct epithelial cells can acquire polarized morphology and differentiated states on ECM gel after having lost it on plastic surfaces and that ECM gel by itself is not enough to induce cilia formation in culture.