Human amnion cells were cultured from amniotic fluid ob-tained by transabdominal amniocentesis of a 33-year-old pregnant woman with a fetus diagnosed as congenital osteodysplasia. The culture, which contained two morphologically distinct types of cells, epithelial and fibroblastic, was intermittently treated with the chemical carcinogens urethane and 4- nitroquinoline 1-oxide, during 7 months of the primary culture. After 6 months of culture, most cells growing in the culture were epithelial. Ultrastructurally, two types were observed, the Golgi type and the fibrillar type. Golgi type cells showed desmosomes, numerous microvilli, cytoplasmic vacuoles, and a well developed Golgi complex, indicating secretory functions. Electron dense materials were seen in the Golgi complex, cytoplasm, intracellular vacuoles, and intercellular spaces. These materials were not stained by sudan III, periodic acid Schiff, alcian blue or toluidine blue. Histochemically, lactate dehydro-genase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase and glucuroni-dase were positive in the epithelial cells, but little gamma-glutamyltranspept-idase, alkaline phosphatase, and glucosidase activity was detected. These growing epithelial cells, the proliferation of which was stimulated by treatment with chemical carcinogens, were identified by electron microscopy as epithelial cells lining the amnion.
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