Concanavalin A receptors in normal and inflamed oesophageal epithelium. A light and electron microscopic study

Electron microscopic changes in human oesophageal epithelium in oesophagitis

At the ultrastructural level the inflamed oesophageal epithelium shows a variety of lesions. These include mitochondrial damage, intracellular oedema, membrane whorls and dilation of the endoplasmic reticulum and the appearance of keratohyaline and parakeratosis granules. The basement membrane shows changes ranging from thickening to areas of loss of continuity. There is an increase in the anchoring fibrils. The spaces between the cells are enlarged and contain varying amounts of debris rich in neutral mucosubstances. There are less membrane-coated granules in the inflamed epithelium than in the normal. The intra-epithelial intrusive cells demonstrated were lymphocytes and neutrophil polymorphs.

The ionic components of normal human oesophageal epithelium

The distribution of cations and anions in normal human oesophageal epithelium has been investigated with the pyroantimonate and silver-osmium tetroxide techniques. There is a discontinuous distribution of both ions in the intercellular space. The ions are associated with various organelles, as has already been described in the literature. Specifically, in the oesophageal epithelium, there are a few deposits of pyroantimonate and occasional silver in the membrane coating granules, but here is no apparent relationship of either ion with the tonofilaments or glycogen particles. The superficial cells are leaky and contain fewer ions than the deeper functional layer cells.