Three-Dimensional Surface Representation Of The Cilia-Free Nasal Mucosa Of Man: A Scanning-Electron-Microscopical Study

Abstract

The normal and the pathologically changed surface of the human nasal mucosa of the inferior conchae is described three-dimensionally with the aid of the scanning-electron-microscope Stereoscan. Scanning-electron-microscopical surface criteria are elaborated for differentiation of beaker cells, cilia-free cylindrical cells and squamous epithelial cells as well as for microvilli and re-proliferating kino-ciliae. The crossing effect of different-levelled cell borders and the appearance of different-levelled cell nuclei are typical of the squamous epithelium; they are not present in the cylindrical epithelium. The filled beaker cell shows a more homogeneous surface with small oval depressions and when compared with the surface of cilia-free cylindrical epithelial cells it presents a distinct decrease of microvilli-infestation. The microvilli show a ledge-like structure pattern whereas re-proliferating kinociliae have papilliform, bud-like cytoplasmic bulges. In pathologically changed nasal mucosa, dome-shaped bulges and a marked loosening of the cilia-free cylindrical epithelium as well as a slow reduction of the microvilli structure are striking, while the squamous epithelium, in contrast to the physiological desquamation process, shows an intensified desquamation with widening of the intercellular spaces.