Immunohistochemical and electron microscopic observations of stromal cells in the human oviduct mucosa.

Stromal cells in the lamina propria of the human oviduct mucosa are unique cells that can differentiate into decidual cells during ectopic pregnancy in the oviduct. The nature of stromal cells is still unknown. In the present study, we investigated human oviductal stromal cells with transmission electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry and revealed that they had ultrastructural features similar to myofibroblasts and expressed alpha-smooth muscle actin, a marker used to identify myofibroblasts.

The primary cilia of secretory cells in the human oviduct mucosa.

The human oviduct is lined with a simple columnar epithelium composed of ciliated cells and secretory cells. Primary cilia or solitary cilia usually extend from the apical surface of the secretory cells. The axoneme of the primary cilia is composed of nine peripheral microtubule doublets (9 + 0 pattern) that lack dynein arms and nexin links.

Cell biology of normal and abnormal ciliogenesis in the ciliated epithelium.

Ciliogenesis is divided into four stages: (1) generation of centrioles, (2) migration of duplicated centrioles, (3) formation of the basal body-associated structures, and (4) elongation of cilia. The ultrastructural profile of ciliogenesis is fundamentally the same among various kinds of animal species. In acentriolar centriologenesis, centrioles are generated around deuterosomes by the use of fibrous granules.

Ultrastructural and immunohistochemical study of the basal apparatus of solitary cilia in the human oviduct epithelium.

The basal apparatus of the solitary cilium is composed of the basal body, an associated centriole and the basal body-associated structures. To see the connection between the basal body and the centriole, we studied the basal apparatus of solitary cilia in human oviductal secretory cells by electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry. A single centriole was present in the vicinity of the basal body of a solitary cilium.