Ultrastructural enzymehistochemical and cell-biological analysis of the preterm dilivery -relationship between fetal cells and preterm delivery-

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1.We characterized the morphology of the human amniotic epithelial cells in term pregnancies. In the chemically fixed amnion, there were two types of cells with different degree of cytoplasmic darkness. However, there were no differences in the number and the shape of Golgi apparatus and mitochondria between the cells. The distribution pattern and the intensity of the enzyme detected by the enzymehistochemistry did not differ between cells, either. Freeze-substitution fixation abolished the differences of the cytoplasmic darkness between cells. We concluded that human amniotic epithelial cells consisted of the homogeneous cell population as far as the morphological features were concerned.2.In the chorioamnion from women with preterm delivery there were abundant polymorphonuclear leukocytes. These leukocytes exhibited morphological features characteristic of phagocytosing leukocytes, ie. : appearance of phagocytotic vacuole with myeloperoxidase on the phagocytotic membrane. These activated leukocytes accumulated just in front of the basement membrane of the chorioamnion. We concluded that in the chorioamnion of the preterm delivery maternal leukocytes accumulated at the basement membrane of this tissue and they phagocytosed various cell debris in this membrane. The phenomenon observed here may have close association with the development of the preterm delivery.3.We developed dual staining for acid phosphatase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase histochemistry at an ultrastructural level. We applied this technique to the fetal placental macrophages in preterm delivery. The macrophages with positive staining for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were defined as activated macrophages. The number of activated fetal placental macrophages were significantly larger in the placenta with preterm delivery than that with normal term delivery. We concluded that fetal placental macrophages had close association with the initiation of the preterm delivery.