["Ultrastructural aspects of amniotic-fluid cells" A. non-vital cells. iii. large squamous cells (author's transl)]

Until desquamation of vernix caseosa near the end of gestation the large, non-keratinizing squamous cells, which have their origin mostly from upper intestinal tract, vagina and urinary tract, form the majority of the population of cells in amniotic fluid. Their structure, as seen by electron microscopy is described, especially it's changes during the process of degeneration after the cell has been desquamated into amniotic fluid: dissolution or condensation of the nucleus, cytoplasmatic changes with appearance of filaments and vesicular corpuscles, and decreasing glycogen content.