Biology of Reproduction, Vol 12, 573-583, Copyright © 1975 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

Scanning Electron Microscopy of the Rabbit Cervix Epithelium

¹ Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98195

The cervical epithelium of intact postovulatory rabbits, ovariectomized rabbits, and ovariectomized rabbits which had received estrogen were studied with the scanning electron microscope. The cervical epithelium of postovulatory rabbits consists of ciliated cells and nonciliated cells with bulbous apical processes. In rabbits spayed for 7 months, there appear to be slightly fewer cilia than in intact rabbits and the bulbous apices of nonciliated cells are not seen. In rabbits spayed for 15 to 18 months, patches of nonciliated cells are interspersed throughout the epithelium. The ciliated cells have both long and short cilia and microvilli on their apical surface. The cervical epithelium of rabbits spayed for 16 months and then given estrogen for 10 days, closely resembles that of intact postovulatory rabbits. Estrogen appears to play a modest role in the maintenance of the ciliated cells in the cervical epithelium, but has a somewhat more important role in the maintenance of the nonciliated secretory cells.