Basement membrane and tumor invasion: ultrastructural observations in the basement membrane of rat bladder with invasive transitional cell carcinoma induced by N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine.

This study describes ultrastructural alterations in the basement membrane (BM) of rat bladder with invasive transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) induced by N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine. Various alterations including thickening, degradation and neosynthesis were found in the bladder BM of one rat with invasive TCC. Focal destruction of both the BM lamina zones was found in addition to partially degraded BMs showing focal degradation and loss of only the BM lamina rara. Neosynthesis of complete BM including the lamina rara and lamina densa was observed surrounding the nests of carcinoma cells deep in the stroma, while neosynthesis of incomplete BM including only a lamina densa-like structure was also found around carcinoma cells which had just crossed the BM into the adjacent stroma from the original tumor masses. There was an increased hemidesmosomal frequency in some areas of thickened BM, and focal loss of hemidesmosome in the areas of degraded BM. It is suggested that BM degradation may take place in two steps, and that BM neosynthesis may also be a two-step process in invasive TCC of rat bladder.