At 40 years of the 'Golden Chain'. Which are the stem cells in ectocervical epithelium?

In normal vaginal and ectocervical epithelium there is no consistent drop in density of the cytoplasmic ultrastructure at the transition between basal cells and parabasal cells. A peculiar golden-brownish argyrophilia, limited to the basal cells and vanishing in dysplasias, had been imputed to this density [2]. The reproducibility of the pertinent silver stain was improved. The phenomenon coincides with the known distribution of cytokeratin 19 and alpha3beta1 integrin. Ultrastructural signs of a specialized anchoring function of the basal cells, published autoradiographic and immunohistological evidence, clues as to the interference with differentiation by persistent papilloma virus DNA, and striking differences in wound healing between keratinizing and nonkeratinizing squamous epithelia prompted the thesis that the true stem cells in this epithelium are not the basal cells but the next higher parabasal cells.