Surface Topography of Deeper Cells Exposed by Ultrasonic Wave Forces in Neoplastic and Non-Neoplastic Epithelium of Human Urinary Bladder

The topographic features of deeper cells exposed by ultrasonic wave forces were observed in well-differentiated bladder tumors and in the non-neoplastic bladder mucosa of humans by scanning electron microscopy, and the desquamated cells from these tissues were also observed. The surfaces of these deeper cells and of desquamated cells had two types of cellular protrusions: ‘ripple-like microridges’ and microvillous cellular processes. Slender microvillous cellular processes of various length were observed in the neoplastic tissue in vivo and in the desquamated cells from the tumors, often in a bent or curved condition. In contrast, microvillous cellular processes of the non-neoplastic tissues were relatively short and fewer than those in the bladder tumor cells. In conclusion, microvillous cellular processes of deeper cells in bladder tumors were more pleomorphic than those of deeper cells in the non-neoplastic bladder mucosa, similar to the more pleomorphic microvilli on the luminal surface of superficial cells in the bladder tumors compared to those of superficial cells in the bladder mucosa.