Electron Microscopic Identification of Epithelial Cells in Tissue Culture of Oral Mucous Membrane

Electron microscope studies of in vitro cell outgrowths from organs containing epithelium have been published (I, 2). These reports dealt with cultures of glandular epithelium. Two different cell types are generally observed in the outgrowths from such tissues, namely fibroblast-like and epithelial-like cells, the designations revealing the uncertainty of their identification. Similar studies of cells from surface epithelium have apparently not been reported. In this study, the ultrastructure of the epithelial-like outgrowths from explants of oral mucosa was compared with that of oral epithelium in vivo in order to determine whether epithelial-like cells showed structural details considered typical for epithelial cells.