Polakovičová Simona, Csöbönyeiová Mária, Filova Barbora, Borovský Miroslav, Maršík Ladislav, Kvasilová Alena, Polák Štefan
Comenius University in Bratislava, Institute of Histology and Embryology.
Eur J Histochem. 2018 Feb 16;62(1):2836. doi: 10.4081/ejh.2018.2836.
Human Merkel cells (MCs) were first described by Friedrich S. Merkel in 1875 and named "Tastzellen" (touch cells). Merkel cells are primarily localized in the basal layer of the epidermis and concentrated in touch-sensitive areas. In our previous work, we reported on the distribution of MCs in the human esophagus, so therefore we chose other parts of the human body to study them. We selected the human vagina, because it has a similar epithelium as the esophagus and plays very important roles in reproduction and sexual pleasure. Due to the fact that there are very few research studies focusing on the innervation of this region, we decided to investigate the occurrence of MCs in the anterior wall of the vagina. The aim of our research was to identify MCs in the stratified squamous non-keratinized epithelium of the human vagina in 20 patients. For the identification of Merkel cells by light microscopy, we used antibodies against simple-epithelial cytokeratins (especially anti-cytokeratin 20). We also tried to identify them using transmission electron microscopy. Our investigation confirmed that 10 (50 %) of 20 patients had increased number of predominantly intraepithelial CK20 positive "Merkel-like" cells (MLCs) in the human vaginal epithelium. Subepithelial CK20 positive MLCs were observed in only one patient (5%). We tried to identify them also using transmission electron microscopy. Our investigation detected some unique cells that may be MCs. The purpose of vaginal innervation is still unclear. There are no data available concerning the distribution of MCs in the human vagina, so it would be interesting to study the role of MCs in the vaginal epithelium, in the context of innervation and epithelial biology.
人类默克尔细胞（MCs）于1875年首次由弗里德里希·S·默克尔描述，并被命名为“Tastzellen”（触觉细胞）。默克尔细胞主要位于表皮基底层，集中在触觉敏感区域。在我们之前的工作中，我们报道了MCs在人体食管中的分布，因此我们选择人体的其他部位来研究它们。我们选择了人体阴道，因为它与食管有相似的上皮组织，并且在生殖和性快感中发挥着非常重要的作用。由于专注于该区域神经支配的研究很少，我们决定研究阴道前壁中MCs的存在情况。我们研究的目的是在20名患者的人体阴道复层鳞状非角化上皮中鉴定MCs。为了通过光学显微镜鉴定默克尔细胞，我们使用了针对简单上皮细胞角蛋白的抗体（特别是抗细胞角蛋白20）。我们还尝试使用透射电子显微镜对它们进行鉴定。我们的研究证实，20名患者中有10名（50%）的人体阴道上皮中主要位于上皮内的CK20阳性“默克尔样”细胞（MLCs）数量增加。仅在一名患者（5%）中观察到上皮下CK20阳性MLCs。我们也尝试使用透射电子显微镜对它们进行鉴定。我们的研究检测到一些可能是MCs的独特细胞。阴道神经支配的目的仍不清楚。目前尚无关于MCs在人体阴道中分布的数据，因此在神经支配和上皮生物学的背景下研究MCs在阴道上皮中的作用将是很有意思的。
