Ciliary ultrastructure of respiratory and fallopian tube epithelium in a sterile woman with Kartagener's syndrome. A quantitative estimation.

Ciliary ultrastructure was studied and quantitatively estimated in a 27-year-old sterile woman suffering from complete KS. Ciliated epithelium was obtained from both nasal mucosa and a fallopian tube. Cilia from both locations were devoid of DA. Various MT abnormalities were found in 16 percent of respiratory epithelial and 21 percent of fallopian tube ciliary cross-sections. The abnormality related to radial spoke defect was frequently seen. The findings in the fallopian tubes were compared to three normal control cases. In these, DA were visible, and MT defects were mainly of excess or missing microtubules. The relevance of these findings to fertility is not clear.