The Morphological Features of a Cervical Cancer Cells Membrane Under Reflected Light Microscope
Abstract
Abstract: A technique for revealing surface morphology of human cervical cancer cells has been developed to facilitate early diagnostics of a pre-cancer and cancer cells under reflected light microscopy. The offered method was borrowed from optical microscopy of a solid state surface where the metallographic inverted microscopy (MIM) are usually used. Unlike common accepted transmitted light microscopy for biological applications MIM technique allows to reveal a morphology and topology of a biological cells surface without any treatment by chemicals (fixing, staining, drying, freezing et al). The MIM method was demonstrated by analyzing fresh native smears from epithelium of uterine neck. MIM micrographs of 167 patients with diagnosis cervical cancer allow to visualize on the cancer cells surface numerous of the light reflective formations (LRF). It is supposed that LRF are connected with exocytosis on the cell membrane. For smears of cervix epithelium throughout the field of view of a microscope numerous ballooning-outs , which have a mean size from 0.1-0.5 to 1.2 -1.3 mkm, are seen located on the cell surface. It is accepted that in result of a cancer cell metabolism a granules or vesicles originate inside of cell and  move towards cell surface to release its contents. Visualization of such morphological formations has however been limited, partly due to the difficulties with imaging native living or structurally intact cells because convenient transmitted light microscopy technique do not reveal surface cell features which are usually removed after fixing, drying and other treatments of smears. We suppose that offered method to visualize cell topography in air without fixation and dehydration may be alternative and complementary to Pap-test.