Ultrastructural study of uterine epithelium in the domestic cat during prenatal development

The study describes the sequence of ultrastructural changes of the endometrial lining epithelium, first in the primordial paramesonephric ducts, then in the differentiating uterine horns, and finally in the mature uterus. The research material comprised female fetuses of the domestic cat, aged 33-63 days post conceptionem (p.c.), and mature females. The ultrastructural observations of the developing epithelium were conducted using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and light microscopy (LM). The results revealed two basic stages in the development of the uterine mucosal epithelium in the domestic cat: the development of the epithelium of the uterine segment of the paramesonephric ducts, lasting from day 33 to day 42 p.c., and the differentiation of this epithelium into the mucosal epithelium of the uterus, starting after day 42 p.c. and lasting until the end of the prenatal period. The epithelium of the uterine segments of the paramesonephric ducts is pseudostratified with a flat surface, all cells being characterized by the same distribution of desmosomes, ribosomes, rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) cisternae, and mitochondria in the cytoplasm. The differentiating epithelium of the uterus after day 51 p.c. is pseudostratified with a varied height. In the epithelial cells there are increases of (i) the number and complexity of the junctional complexes, (ii) the number of invaginations of the lateral cell membranes, and (iii) the number of elongated mitochondria, and also there appear distended cisternae of the rER, lipid droplets and clusters of glycogen, which suggest increasing metabolism and secretory activity of the cells during the transformation of the epithelium.