The normal squamous epithelium of the human uterine cervix: a histological study.

The normal squamous epithelium of the uterine cervix was investigated in 50 foetuses and newborns, as well as in 207 adult women operated upon because of various benign conditions of the uterus. The epithelium was divided according to the presence or the absence of prominent epithelial papillae. Epithelial papillae occurred in 32% of the cervices in the paediatric age and in 17% in adult women. They were present in the whole squamous epithelium covering the portio vaginalis in all pediatric patients. In 49% of the adult patients epithelial papillae covered the whole portio and/or the transitional zone; in the remaining 51% only a reduced area presented epithelial papillae. Micrometric determinations demonstrated that normal epithelium with papillar formation was thicker than epithelium with smooth epithelial border. This was most prominent in the paediatric patients. The possibility that oestrogenic stimulation (in paediatric patients) and oestrogenic stimulation as well as chronic stromal inflammation (in adult patients) could account for the formation of prominent epithelial papillae was discussed.