抄録
The process of squamous metaplasia in the uterinecervix might be discussed more properly in contextwith inflammation, regeneration or repair for itsinitiation may be related to the inflammatory process. On the other hand, squamous metaplasia maybe initiated by non-inflammatory stimuli such aschronic irritation of a physical nature or by chemicalirritants. Althorgh the process of squamous metaplasia is extremely common in the uterine cervix, itis not usually regarded as a change which necessarilyantedates development of cancer. However, some of the chemical stimuli which initiate squamous metaplasia are also capable of inducing cancer in theuterine cervix of the experimental animals.
Squamous metaplasia can be arbitrarily subdividedinto: 1. reserve cell hyperplasia, 2. immature squamous metaplasia, 3. premature squamous metaplasia and 4. mature squamous metaplasia. The cellularchanges which can be related to each of them havebeen presented.
