Development of striated rootlets during ciliogenesis in the human oviduct epithelium

Striated rootlets in ciliated cells are conical banded structures composed of longitudinally aligned filaments. The formation of striated rootlets during ciliognesis in the human oviduct epithelium was studied by electron microscopy. Primitive rootlets appeared at the proximal side of basal bodies before or at the same time as ciliary budding. After the formation of several striations, the tip of the rootlets extended deeply toward the interior of the cell and became differentiated into two distinct parts, viz., the proximal conical part connected to the basal body and the distal fibrillar part. The periodicity of the striations in the fibrillar part was 68. 5+/-2.95 nm, about 5 nm longer than that of the conical part (63. 9+/-2.25 nm). The dark band in the striation was thicker in the fibrillar part than in the conical part. Since the fibrillar part was not observed in the mature cilium, this part was considered as being either degraded or changed into the conical part during ciliogenesis.