ACTIVITY OF NUCLEOLAR ORGANIZERS IN ENDOMETRIAL CELLS OF WOMEN WITH NORMAL MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Objective - to examine the structure and the activity of the nucleolar organizing regions in epithelial and stromal cells of normal endometrium in women of reproductive age at different stages of the menstrual cycle by histochemical (argentaffin) reaction. Materials and methods. Biopsy specimens of normal endometrium from 30 women of reproductive age were studied. Histochemical (argentaffin) reaction was performed to determine the activity of the nucleolar organizing regions. The number of nucleoli, intranucleolar and extranucleolar argentaffin inclusions were counted in cells of glandular and surface epithelium and in the cells of the lamina propria of the uterine mucosa at different stages of the menstrual cycle. Results. During the proliferative phase, the activity of the nucleolar organizers increased in the epithelial cells and endometrial stromal fibroblasts, which indicates an increase in the activity of ribosomal biogenesis processes. In the early and middle secretory phase ribosomal biogenesis decelerated in the cells of the glandular and surface epithelium and increased in stromal fibroblasts. From the middle to late secretory phase an increased ribosomal biogenesis was observed in epithelial cells and endometrial stromal fibroblasts. No changes in the activity of the nucleolar organizers were demonstrated by J. Crocker’s technique in stromal lymphocytes and histiocytes at various phases of the menstrual cycle. Conclusions. The activity of nucleolar organizers is an informative indicator for assessing the functional state of epithelial and stromal cells of the endometrium at various phases of the menstrual cycle.

women’s menstrual cycle, endometrium, nucleolar organizers