Ciliated mucous cells found in the nasal mucosa of a patient with Kartagener's syndrome.

Transmission electron microscopy revealed the presence of ciliated cells containing many mucous secretory granules in the nasal surface epithelium of a 13-year-old patient suffering from Kartagener's syndrome. In these cells, mucous secretory granules were accumulated in the apical cytoplasm, and the Golgi apparatus was well developed in the supranuclear region. Mucous secretory granules were discharged infrequently through the apical cell membranes by single or compound exocytosis. The cells were considered to be ciliated mucous cells, which have already been reported to be present in the lower respiratory tract but not in the upper respiratory tract.