OBSERVATIONS ON THE DESOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID COMPONENT OF PIGMENTED SKIN TUMORS

[摘要] Pigmented skin tumors, including seborrheic keratosis, intradermal nevus, blue nevus, junction nevus, lentigo, pigmented basal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma were examined for desoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by means of the Feulgen reaction. The nuclei of all the pigmented skin tumors under investigation contained DNA, but the two malignant neoplasms, basal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma, appeared to be richest in DNA. The nuclei of the cells of blue nevus were only weakly Feulgen positive when compared with Feulgen stained nuclei of the other pigmented skin tumors. Melanocytes of the various pigmented skin tumors (exclusive of the clear cells of lentigo and junction nevus, which are considered by some authors to play a part in pigment formation) did not appear to differ from their neighbors in DNA content. Nuclei of the clear cells of both lentigo and junction nevus were far more strongly Feulgen positive than other cells of the same epidermis.