FIG. 1.

Morphology and structural characteristics of 3-D endocervical EC. A) SEM images of a 3-D human endocervical EC aggregate at magnifications ×10, ×500, and ×5000. White arrow points to areas of mucus. B) TEM images of a 3-D endocervical EC aggregate. Insets highlight i) microvilli (black arrow), ii) tight junctional complexes (white arrow), and iii) secretory vesicles (black arrows). Confocal immunofluorescence microscopy images of 3-D endocervical EC (top panel) and confluent endocervical EC ML (bottom panel) were labeled with anti-ESA (C), anti-claudin-4 (D), and anti-MUC1 (E) antibodies and counterstained with DAPI to label nuclei.