A study of the morphological parameters of cervical squamous epithelium

Abstract

Electrical impedance spectroscopy is a technique that has been investigated as a potential method for the diagnosis of epithelial carcinomas. Finite element modelling can provide an insight into the patterns of current flow in normal and pathological epithelium and hence aid in the process of probe design optimization. In order to develop a finite element model of the structure of normal and precancerous cervical squamous epithelium, it was first necessary to obtain the mean values and ranges of a number of morphological tissue parameters. The most important parameters in discriminating normal from neoplastic tissue were identified as being cell size and shape distribution, nuclear-to-cytoplasmic volume ratio and volume of extracellular space. A survey of the literature revealed an absence of reliable quantitative data for these parameters. We therefore present the results of our own basic image analysis on normal and pathological tissue sections, which we hope will be of use to other workers wishing to model cervical squamous epithelium, or other similar tissue structures.

Video-rate tomographic phase microscopy

“…The more than two-fold greater increase in σ n for the nucleus and nucleolus compared with the rest of the cell suggests that increased whitening of precancerous cells may reflect the greater nuclear-to-cytoplasmic volume ratio in such cells. 18 We performed a similar analysis to monitor changes in shape and structure of a single cell during exposure to a hypertonic buffered saline solution (see Video 2). Figure 4 shows an HT29 (human colonic adenocarcinoma) cell during a change in solution osmolarity from 300 to 975 mosm/L.…”

Fluorescence confocal endomicroscopy of the cervix: pilot study on the potential and limitations for clinical implementation

“…epithelium and are not detectable by fluorescence endomicroscopy. 27 For both reasons, we do not discriminate between normal squamous epithelium that is free of dysplasia and LSIL in this study.…”

“…3 and subsequent figures display uncorrected scaling without accounting for possible tissue shrinkage by formalin fixation. 27 Figure 3(a) shows small, pyknotic, and widely separated nuclei, which is one of the most common endomicroscopic appearances of well-differentiated normal squamous epithelium. Figure 3(b) has been captured at a comparatively greater depth of 45 AE 5 μm, which-depending on the overall epithelial thickness-increases the chance of seeing less differentiated cells with larger nuclei.…”

Vaginal Drug Delivery Systems for HIV Prevention

“…During perimenopausal (3 to 5 years preceding menopause), there is a reduction in the estrogen levels, which contributes to a reduction of epithelium thickness. However to date, no quantitative data have been reported comparing the thickness of pre-and postmenopausal women (10). An understanding of the epithelium of the target is essential for the delivery of both microbicide drug candidates intended for topical application which have activity either in the vaginal lumen or the upper epithelium without becoming systemically available, as well as those intended for systemic delivery.…”