Cell surface changes during aging of human bladder epithelium examined by lectin probes and SEM

Ultrastructural changes have been shown to occur in the urinary bladder epithelium (urothelium) during the life span of humans. With increasing age, the luminal surface becomes more flexible and develops simple microvilli-like processes. Furthermore, the specialised asymmetric structure of the luminal plasma membrane is relatively more prominent in the young than in the elderly. The nature of the changes at the luminal surface is now explored by lectin-mediated adsorption visualised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).Samples of young adult (21-31 y old) and elderly (58-82 y old) urothelia were fixed in buffered 2% glutaraldehyde for 10 m and washed with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) containing Ca++ and Mg++ at room temperature. They were incubated overnight at 4°C in 0.1 M ammonium chloride in PBS to block any remaining aldehyde groups. The samples were then allowed to stand in PBS at 37°C for 2 h before incubation at 37°C for 30 m with lectins. The lectins used were concanavalin A (Con A), wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and pokeweed mitogen (PWM) at a concentration of 500 mg/ml in PBS at pH 7.A.