Yamaguchi Manako, Yoshihara Kosuke, Suda Kazuaki, Nakaoka Hirofumi, Yachida Nozomi, Ueda Haruka, Sugino Kentaro, Mori Yutaro, Yamawaki Kaoru, Tamura Ryo, Ishiguro Tatsuya, Motoyama Teiichi, Watanabe Yu, Okuda Shujiro, Tainaka Kazuki, Enomoto Takayuki
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata 951-8510, Japan.
Human Genetics Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima 411-8540, Japan.
iScience. 2021 Mar 2;24(4):102258. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102258. eCollection 2021 Apr 23.
The fundamental morphology of the endometrial glands is not sufficiently understood by 2D observation because these glands have complicated winding and branching patterns. To construct a large picture of the endometrial gland structure, we performed tissue-clearing-based 3D imaging of human uterine endometrial tissue. Our 3D immunohistochemistry and layer analyses revealed that the endometrial glands form a plexus network in the stratum basalis and expand horizontally along the muscular layer, similar to the rhizome of grass. We then extended our method to assess the 3D morphology of tissue affected by adenomyosis, a representative "endometrium-related disease," and observed its 3D morphological features, including the direct invasion of endometrial glands into the myometrium and an ant colony-like network of ectopic endometrial glands within the myometrium. Thus, further understanding of the morphology of the human endometrium based on 3D analysis will lead to the identification of the pathogenesis of endometrium-related diseases.
由于子宫内膜腺体具有复杂的盘绕和分支模式，二维观察无法充分了解其基本形态。为了构建子宫内膜腺体结构的全貌，我们对人类子宫子宫内膜组织进行了基于组织透明化的三维成像。我们的三维免疫组织化学和分层分析表明，子宫内膜腺体在基底层形成一个丛状网络，并沿着肌层水平扩展，类似于草根的根茎。然后，我们将方法扩展到评估受子宫腺肌病（一种典型的“子宫内膜相关疾病”）影响的组织的三维形态，并观察其三维形态特征，包括子宫内膜腺体直接侵入肌层以及肌层内异位子宫内膜腺体的蚁群样网络。因此，基于三维分析进一步了解人类子宫内膜的形态将有助于确定子宫内膜相关疾病的发病机制。
