Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica (Oct 2011)
Different distribution of c-kit positive interstitial cells of Cajal-like in children’s urinary bladders
Abstract
We describe the presence of c-kit positive interstitial cells of Cajal-like (ICCs-like) in the walls of theurinary bladders of children. An immunohistochemical study of specimens, obtained at autopsy from either thetrigonum (Group A) or the corpus (Group B), was performed using antibodies against c-kit (CD 117). Histologicalmorphometry of the immunoexpression of c-kit positive ICCs-like was performed by means of image analysissystem. The c-kit positive ICCs-like were identified by their morphology and counted in the vesical musclelayer in ten adjacent high power fields, each of 0.0479 mm2. The areas of the epithelial and subepithelial layerscontaining c-kit positive mast cells (rounded body with no dendritic processes) were neglected. The results wereexpressed as the number of ICCs-like cells per mm2. Differences between groups were tested using unpairedStudent’s t-test preceded by evaluation of normality and Levene’s test. Results were considered statisticallysignificant if p < 0.05. In Group A, the mean number of ICCs-like cells was statistically significantly higher (41.5cells/mm2) than in Group B (30.4 cells/mm2), p < 0.05. ICCs-like cells were found within the smooth musclelayer of the urinary bladder. There was a different distribution of these cells in particular parts of the bladder,which was probably due to the different roles of the trigonum and the corpus in the bladders of children. (FoliaHistochemica et Cytobiologica 2011; Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 431–435)
