Further data indicating ovarian hormone independent cells in the human endocervical crypts.

This study was carried out in order to verify the existence of two types of muciparous cells in the human endocervical mucosa on the basis of their ovarian hormone dependence. Uterine cervices of fertile and late menopause women were compared to define histochemically the morphology of muciparous cells found in two opposite ovarian hormone patterns. A similar morphology was observed in the fertile and late menopause groups, although they differed in both a higher number of muciparous cells and more intracellular mucus present in the fertile women. A comparative evaluation of these data suggest that hormone independent cells are present in the cervical crypts of late menopause women and that a cyclic change of hormone dependent cells may occur in fertile women, analogous to the cyclic changes of endometrial mucosa.