C. Ockleford et al., CONFOCAL AND CONVENTIONAL IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE AND ULTRASTRUCTURAL-LOCALIZATION OF INTRACELLULAR STRENGTH-GIVING COMPONENTS OF HUMAN AMNIOCHORION, Journal of Anatomy, 183, 1993, pp. 483-505
Key cytoskeletal polypeptides of human fetal membranes have been local
ised at subcellular level using confocal and conventional indirect imm
unofluorescence microscopy. Correlation with electron microscope data
has allowed us to examine how cellular compartments of this multilamin
ar tissue maintain their mechanical integrity until the time of membra
ne rupture at parturition. Evidence is presented for myofibroblastic c
haracteristics of cells in both the fibroblast and reticular layers wh
ich may therefore have tension-generating, position-adjustment and wou
nd-healing roles in the amniochorion. Desmin and vimentin are coexpres
sed in these cells, but a small localised population of cells in the f
ibroblast layer contains vimentin alone. An interaction of cytokeratin
filaments with nuclei and desmosomes of amniotic epithelium in vivo i
s demonstrated, indicating that nuclei of cells of ectodermal origin a
re integrated into a mechanical structure extending throughout the tis
sue as a whole. Cells of the basal 1 or 2 layers of trophoblast have b
een shown to have a more extensive and better integrated cytoskeletal
organisation than those overlying and forming the boundary with decidu
a. Structures within the trophoblast, identified previously as degener
ate villi, contain cells with intermediate filaments with similar immu
nofluorescence properties to those of the neighbouring reticular layer
and thus may represent papillae that prevent shearing at this interfa
ce.