Study of the nasopharynx in man by scanning electron microscopy

To date only few and often disagreeing studies about human nasopharynx are available. The present research has the purpose to give a contribution to the knowledge of nasopharyngeal epithelium using S.E.M. The study was carried out on biopsies taken from 20 healthy volunteers. The surface of nasopharynx is covered by ciliated cells, microvilli provided cells and goblet cells. Areas covered with squamous epithelium and presumably transitional epithelium were observed. The possibility that ciliated cells become microvilli provided cells is discussed.