Crusta (biology)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The crusta is an apical compression of the cytoplasm of the cover cells of the urothelium , the transitional epithelium of the urinary tract. It comes about through closely spaced microfilaments and intermediate filaments as well as embedded membrane vesicles. These also contain membrane proteins typical of the urothelium, the uroplakins .

The crusta can already be seen in the light microscope as an apical darkening of the cytoplasm; the individual components of the crusta can be differentiated under the electron microscope.

The crusta should not be confused with the keratinization , for example in the keratinized epithelium .

Web links