난소절제한 흰쥐에서 $17{eta}$-estradiol과 progesterone을 장기간 주사햐여 자궁상피의 형태적 변화를 전자현미경으로 관찰하였다. 난소절제 후 자궁상피는 막성구조물과 지방구 기타의 구조물을 포함하는 vacuole의 출현이 특이적으로 나타났다. 상피는 낮은 입방형이며 세포 유리면에 소수의 짧은 microvilli를 볼 수 있었다. Estradiol투여시 상피는 높은 윈주형을 나타내며, 분비계는 비교적 잘 발달되고, 세포 유리면에 소수의 긴 microvilli도 관찰되었다. Progesterone 처리시의 상피는 세포 첨단부에 다수의 vacuole과 핵하부에 다수의 지방구의 집적이 관찰되었다. 이상의 결과로 보아 자궁상피는 형태학적 및 기능적인 상태에서 estrogen과 Progesterone 양자에 의해 변화를 받으며 이들 호르몬은 상피세포에 대해 독특한 영향을 나타낸다고 생각된다.
Morphological changes of the epithelium of the endometrium by prolonged treatment of $17{eta}$-estradiol or progesterone in ovariectomized rats was studied at the ultrastructural level. The epithelium of the endometrium in ovariectomized rats was characterized by the appearance of a number of vacuoles which was contained with the membraneous structures, lipid droplets and the others. The epithelium was low cuboidal, and a few short microvilli were present at the cell surface. Secretory granules are rarely found. After estradiol treatment, the epithelium was high columnar in shape. The mitochondria was appeared throughout the cytoplasm, however, long or swelling mitochondria was often found. Golgi apparatus and rER were relatively well-developed. Relatively long and sparse microvilli were present at the cell surface. After progesterone treatment, the epithelium was characterized by the appearance of numerous vesicles at the apical region and numerous lipid droplets at the subnuclear region. At the cell surface a number of short and blunt microvilli were found. These data indicated that the endometrium was dependent on estrogen and progesterone for changes in both its morphological and functional state and suggested that each hormone exerted a unique effect on the epithelial cells.
