Table I.
Some Morphometric Parameters of Rat Uterine Smooth Myocytes
| Nonpregnant | Midpregnancy | Late pregnancy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of myocytes | 14 | 22 | 13 | |||
| Maximum diameter (μm) | 7.9 ± 0.4 | 15.2 ± 0.4 | 21.0 ± 1.7 | |||
| (6.3 − 10.4) | (10.8 − 18.8) | (14.1 − 28.4) | ||||
| Average diameter* (μm) | 4.5 ± 0.2 | 7.5 ± 0.2 | 10.6 ± 0.5 | |||
| (3.2 − 4.9) | (5.7 − 9.3) | (7.0 − 14.1) | ||||
| Length‡ (μm) | 129.7 ± 11.4 | 238.2 ± 8.3 | 225.1 ± 12.6 | |||
| (68.3 − 191.1) | (171.5 − 298.6) | (168.0 − 304.7) | ||||
| Surface (μm2) | 1,928.4 ± 235.1 | 5,193 ± 188.4 | 7,599.4 ± 639.7 | |||
| (686 − 3,422) | (3,071 − 6,299) | (4,198 − 12,220) | ||||
| Volume (pl) | 2.6 ± 0.4 | 11.0 ± 0.5 | 21.0 ± 2.5 | |||
| (0.6 − 5.5) | (5.1 − 14.3) | (7.3 − 28.2) |
All values are means ± SEM, with range in parentheses underneath.
*
Average diameter over the entire length of the cell.
‡
End-to-end length. Except for cell-lengths for mid- and late pregnancy, all comparable parameters at different stages are significantly different (P < 0.05).