Quantitative analysis of epithelial cells in urine from men with and without urethritis: implications for studying epithelial: pathogen interactions in vivo.

Background: Epithelial cells in first catch urine (FCU) specimens from 87 men with and without urethritis were quantified. Epithelial cells were broadly categorised into transitional and squamous populations using morphological characteristics and immunostaining with anti-pan leukocyte and anti-cytokeratin monoclonal antibodies.

Findings: The majority (77/87 = 89%) of samples contained both transitional (76/87 = 87%; range 1 x 10(4) - 6 x 10(5), median 6 x 10(4)) and squamous (57/87 = 66%; range 1 x 10(4) - 8 x 10(5), median 2 x 10(4)) epithelial cells.

Quantifying leukocytes in first catch urine provides new insights into our understanding of symptomatic and asymptomatic urethritis.

We quantitatively investigated inflammatory cells in the male urethra. Leukocytes in the first catch urine (FCU) from 87 men with and without urethritis were quantitated using haemocytometer counts and stained with an anti-CD45 pan-leukocyte antibody. An increased number of leukocytes in FCU specimens was associated with urethritis (P > 0.