COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE FINE STRUCTURE OF CELLS FROM A HUMAN ESOPHAGEAL CARCINOMA CELL LINE AND CULTURED NORMAL ESOPHAGEAL EPITHELIAL CELLS / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

The fine structure of epithelial cells from a human esophageal carcinoma cell line and normal esophageal cells in short-term cultures were studied. Different types of cellswere described according to their electron densities. In general they may be subdividedinto dark, light and empty cells. These different types of cells appear to correspond to proliferating, degenerating and dying cells. A comparative study between normal and malignant esophageal epithelial cells revealed the characteristics of cancer cells as follows: wider intercellular space, a greater number of villi, but few desmosomes and tonofilaments, larger and irregular nuclei and larger more distinct nucleoli. of much greater significance is the appearance of aggregated RNP in the cancer cells, a phenomenon heretofore not observed in normal cells. These electron microscopic evidences showed that this cell line originated from squamous epithelial cancer cells. Many nucleopores, each composed of eight subunits, and abundant cytoplasmic fibrils were seen in the neighborhood of part of the nuclear membrane in the cancer cells. The presence of more nucleopores in the cancer cells is in accord with the fact that malignant cells differentiate poorly and metabolize actively. Virus-like particles were seen in normal cells but not in the cancer cells.