HISTOPATHOLOGY OF STRIAE DISTENSAE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO STRIAE AND WOUND HEALING IN MARFAN SYNDROME

[摘要] Cutaneous striae of 5 cases of the Marfan syndrome, 3 family members, 8 normal individuals, and 1 adolescent with Cushingoid syndrome due to high steroid dosage were examined histologically and compared with a widely distended scar following a surgically sutured wound of 1 patient with the Marfan syndrome. In conformity with the view that all striae are caused by glucosteroid excess, almost identical histologic features were found in all 17 cases and were characterized by scar-like arrangement of parallel bundles of collagen in the upper part of the dermis associated with numerous thin and straight or wavy elastic fibers extending across the stria. A similar picture was encountered in the distended surgical scar. It is concluded that elastic fibers are regenerated in striae after their original disappearance and that there is no evidence for their gradual elimination in old striae, as demonstrated in 2 patients aged 61 yr. Regeneration of elastic fibers in the skin of patients with Marfan''s syndrome supports the view that the basic defect in this condition is not in the elastic tissue but elsewhere (possibly in the ground substance). It also points to a possibly significant difference from experimental lathyrism in animals.