Summary
After transplacental treatment of mice with estrogens, a heavy mucification was found in the fornices of the vaginae of the offsping. The resulting mucified stratified epithelium is described by light and electron microscopy. It consists of two different cell types: cells forming mucus on top of cells forming tonofilaments. Mucus formation is usually attributed to treatment with progestagens, or with with estrogens combined with vitamin A. Estrogen treatment per se has been shown to be responsible for tonofilament formation. Our unexpected findings are discussed against the background of different theories of development of vaginal epithelium as well as their possible interpretation as beginning of adenosis.
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This work was supported by grant 83.620.1.78 of the Swiss National Science Foundation
My sincere thanks are due to Prof. Dr. H.-J. Merker for his generous support of this work, providing the facilities of his laboratory, as well as for numerous fruitful discussions; to Mrs. U. Krüger for preparing the excellent thin sections; and to Dr. D. Keefer forzhis thorough revision of the manuscript.-DES was a gift from Dr. W. Elger, Schering AG, Berlin
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Holderegger, C. Ultrastructural study of the mucification of the stratified epithelium of the mouse vagina. Cell Tissue Res. 213, 475–482 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237892
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237892