ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDY OF THE HUMAN NASAL POLYP, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE CILIARY VESICLES (FLIMMERBLASE)

Abstract

The nasal polyp, a bulging lesion in the nasal cavity, is a frequently reported disease in the rhinopharyngeal field. The author attempts to elucidate the detailed structures of nasal polyp epithelium and the ciliary vesicles detected in some epithelial cells with electron microscopy.1. The nasal polyp was mainly covered with a pseudostratified ciliated epithelium as those of normal air tract epithelium, and in places with the stratified squamous or columnar epithelium. The pseudostratified ciliated epithelium gradually shifted to the stratified squamous epithelium through the stratified columnar epithelium.2. The ciliary vesicle was detected in a cell as a round or oval intracytoplasmic cavity provided with many ciliary apparatuses and microvilli. The ciliary vesicles were restrictedly appeared in the pseudostratified ciliated epithelium. On the ciliary vesicle formation in the cells, findings come to the conclusion as follows : (1) Initially duplicated centrioles and associated many tortuous or tubular smooth-surfaced endoplasmic reticula appear and assemble in perinuclear region in some basally located cells. (2) Some of these vesicles migrate and locate at one end of respective centrioles as dome-like or curved vesicular structures. (3) Thereafter ciliary axis extends toward the curved vesicles which are designated as apical vesicles. (4), Some apical vesicles develop a tendency to join each other and to grow into a larger ciliary vesicle. (5) In rare cases, some large ciliary vesicles are protruded as dome-like bulging in the apicalcytoplasm and open into the lumen like those of emiocytotic procedures. This may be indicated a special type of ciliated cell formation in this epithelium. The author concluded that the ciliary vesicles arise from an erroneous process of ciliogcncsis in presumably ciliated cells due to some abnormal ciliogenetic processes including inflammations.