Fig 1.

A. The vaginal epithelium undergoes morphological changes during maturation. As cells mature, they migrate from the basal layer, to the parabasal and intermediate layers to the superficial layer from which they are shed. B. Morphological changes of the vaginal epithelium during maturation include decrease in nuclear and increase in cytoplasmic sizes, which provides the basis of the Maturity Index value (values shown are representative of each layer). C. Shedding of immature cells indicates depletion of superficial cells, and loss of structural integrity of the vaginal epithelial barrier.