Interstitial stroma and carcinogenesis: ultrastructural observations in the rat bladder treated with...

This study describes ultrastructural alterations of the interstitial stroma in the rat bladder epithelium during N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine (BBN)-induced bladder carcinogenesis using scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy with NaOH treatment. The results obtained with SEM demonstrated the occurrence and development of stroma protrusions which exhibited pipe-like structures in the rat bladder epithelium following administration of BBN. Number and size of blood vessel sections also gradually increased both in the stroma and within the layer of the proliferated epithelial cells as examined by light microscopy (LM) and TEM. In this study stroma alterations were not only observed in malignant lesions of rat bladder, but hyperplastic lesions were also accompanied by stroma alterations. It is suggested that: (1) the interstitial stroma of the rat bladder epithelium may exhibit pathological changes in structure and these changes may correlate with the progression of epithelial cell proliferation following administration of BBN and (2) one of the most important alterations in the stroma is the occurrence of neovascularization, which may induce structural modification of the stroma in the processes of bladder tumor growth and development.