Ultrastructures of <i>ex vivo</i> human bladder urothelium.

<p>Bladder tissue biopsy was immediately processed for TEM study. (A) Surface umbrella cells with numerous DFVs. Arrowheads point to tight junctions (TJ) between two adjacent umbrella cells; dotted line demarcates junction between the upper umbrella cells and the underlying urothelial cells. (B) A higher magnification photograph of umbrella cells showing DVFs and uroplakins plaques (Uro P), which appear as darker lines associated with the cell membrane. (C, E) Higher magnification of TJ structures shown in A. (E, F) enlargement of areas shown in C and E (square boxes) showing DFVs, Uro P, TJ and desmosomes (Des). Bar scale = 1 µm.