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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Generation of Organotypic Raft Cultures from Primary Human Keratinocytes
Published on: February 22, 2012
[Differentiation behavior of human vaginal epithelium exemplified by keratin expression]
G Schaller1, D Mischke, A G Wild
1Frauenklinik und Poliklinik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
Abstract:
The biochemical and immunohistochemical detection of keratins proves, that the human epithelium of the vagina is a mosaic of differentiation, because of its simultaneous realisation of opposite differentiation pathways in either nonkeratinizing squamous epithelium, identifiable by keratins 4/13, or in epidermis, marked by keratins 1/10. It is only during pregnancy, that the pure type of nonkeratinizing squamous epithelium is seen by the selective suppression of the epidermal keratins 1/10. This finding and the phenomenon of an unpaired expression of keratin pairs in the human vaginal epithelium are explained by a hormone-dependent synthesis of keratin proteins.
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