The possible role of hemidesmosomes in neonatally estrogen-induced selection of a permanently altered abnormal vaginal epithelium.

In untreated and neonatally-estrogenized (E) Balb/c mice the numbers of hemidesmosomes per basal cell cross section (HD/bccs) gradually increases from 0.07 HD/bccs on day 1 to about 2 to 3 HD/bccs on day 4 postpartum. In untreated mice the incidence of HD's increases and plateaus at 6 to 7 HD/bccs on days 5 and 8, while during this same period in E-treated mice the incidence is increased to 14 to 15 HD/bccs. In 5-day-old E-treated mice two types of basal vaginal epithelial cells can be recognized: basophilic cells rich in HD (19.5 +/- 2.1 HD/bccs) and light cells containing only 5.3 +/- 3.3 HD/bccs. The basophilic, HD-rich cells appear to replace the lighter HD-poor cells. The hypothesis that HD's are involved in the estradiol-induced selection of an abnormal vaginal epithelium is discussed.