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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Mar 30.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Urol. 2020 Jul 9;17(8):459–468. doi: 10.1038/s41585-020-0348-2

Figure 1. Structural properties of urothelium.

Figure 1.

a Urothelium is composed of distinct basal, intermediate and superficial (umbrella) cell populations. Superficial cells secrete an apical membrane plaque composed of uroplakin proteins at the luminal surface. b Haematoxylin and eosin staining demonstrates large, binucleated superficial cells (green arrows), as well as intermediate cells (grey arrows), some of which are binucleated, and basal cells (yellow arrows); ×40 magnification. The urothelial basement membrane is indicated by a white dashed line. c Transmission electron microscopy of superficial cells reveals their unique ultrastructural characteristics, including uroplakin-rich fusiform vesicles (asterisks) and scallop-shaped apical urothelial plaque (blue arrows); ×3,000 magnification.