Basal cell pseudopodia and the degree of maturation of squamous metaplasia of the uterine cervix: a morphometric quantification.

Application of morphometry to discrete processes was used to study the stroma-epithelial interface in benign proliferative processes of human cervical epithelium. This method with the use of two-dimensional transmission electron micrographs quantifies the number of pseudopodia and other features of the basal cell. The number of pseudopodia per basal cell and other basal cell features in reserve cell hyperplasia, immature squamous metaplasia, intermediate squamous metaplasia, and mature squamous metaplasia of human uterine cervix were measured. The number of pseudopodia per basal cell in reserve cell hyperplasia was 6.77 +/- 1.46 and comparable to that previously observed in advanced cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. The number of pseudopodia per basal cell in the three subtypes of squamous metaplasia ranged from 10.67 to 19.12 and was approximately half that observed in normal control epithelium. The concept of a continuum existing from reserve cell hyperplasia through immature squamous metaplasia to mature squamous metaplasia is supported with the demonstration of increasing numbers of pseudopodia per basal cell with cellular maturation.