The role of mesothelial cells in the host defence against bacteria : in vitro studies of peritonitis

The peritoneum is a serous membrane that lines both the intra-abdominal wall and the viscera contained wilhin the peritoneal cavity. Etymologically, 'peritoneum' means 'wrapped tightly around." The first description of the structure and function of the human peritoneum was given by James Doughlas in 1730. He observed that it was everywhere smooth and even and lubricated by a fiuid in order to preserve it from those inconveniences which otherwise would have followed from its continual attrilion wilh olher viscera. Human periloneum covers roughly the same surface area as the skin, approximately 2 m' in the adult. The parietal peritoneum covering the abdominal wall conslitutes about 10%, while the peritoneum covering the visceral organs, constitutes about 90% of this surface area. In males the peritoneum is completely closed, but in females it is open at the site of the uterine tubes, where the tubal peritoneum meets the non-peritonized fimbriated mucosa of the Fallopian tube. The peritoneum is a derivative of the embryological mesoderm and belongs to a distinct family of body tissues that share the same cellular composition and exhibit an identical histological architecture known as the serosa. The basic structure of the peritoneum appears to be rather simple; it is composed of a monolayer of mesothelial cells separated from the capillaries by a thin layer of loose conneclive interstilial tissue.

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