Mucosa of ureter

The ureter is composed of three coats: adventice (fibrous coat), muscular coat, and mucous coat.

The mucous coat (tunica mucosa) is smooth, and presents a few longitudinal folds which become effaced by distension. It is continuous with the mucous membrane of the bladder below, while it is prolonged over the papillæ of the kidney above. Its epithelium is of a transitional character, and resembles that found in the bladder. It consists of several layers of cells, of which the innermost—that is to say, the cells in contact with the urine—are somewhat flattened, with concavities on their deep surfaces into which the rounded ends of the cells of the second layer fit. These, the intermediate cells, more or less resemble columnar epithelium, and are pear-shaped, with rounded internal extremities which fit into the concavities of the cells of the first layer, and narrow external extremities which are wedged in between the cells of the third layer. The external or third layer consists of conical or oval cells varying in number in different parts, and presenting processes which extend down into the basement membrane. Beneath the epithelium, and separating it from the muscular coats, is a dense layer of fibrous tissue containing many elastic fibers.