MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE URINARY BLADDER GLANDULAR APPARATUS AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF POSTNATAL ONTOGENESIS

Total preparations of the urinary bladder wall obtained from 130 corpses of humans of both sexes and various ages, who died by chance cause, were examined with the macro-microscopical method. Morphometry was used to study the structural characteristics of the glands of this organ in the different parts of its wall (proximal, medial and distal thirds of the urinary bladder). The diversity of the appearance of the glands was noted; the greatest variability of glandular shape variants was detected at the age of 22-35 years. The glandular apparatus of the urinary bladder was found to attain its maximum development at the age of 22-35 years, thereafter it undergoes the involutive changes. Proximo-distal gradient of the change of shape of the glands was detected along the urinary bladder, this gradient was independent on age and gender. Age-associated changes of the total numbers of glands and of their density (relative numbers) in the walls of the urinary bladder, as well as the regional peculiarities of these parameters, were described for the first time. Gender-related differences in the structure of the urinary bladder glands were found only in the reproductive period. They were demonstrated as the larger gland dimensions in females of this age as compared to those of males.

urinary bladder, glands, morphometry, postnatal ontogenesis