A STUDY OF DISTRIBUTION OF EPIDERMAL DENDRITIC CELLS IN PIGMENTED AND UNPIGMENTED SKIN

[摘要] The distribution of epidermal dendritic cells in normal and depigmented skin was examined by means of the calcium -cobalt technic for nucleoside polyphosphatase. Basal dendritic cells were demonstrated in normal pigmented skin and in regions of white spotting, in vitiligo, and in albino skin. A double staining technic showed that a proportion of basal dendritic cells in normal pigmented skin are non-melanogenic. Numerical comparisons of suprabasal epidermal dendritic cells showed that they are reduced in palmar and plantar epidermis and increased in depigmented human skin. If the values from the counts on food and finger-pad epidermis were excluded, the mean value obtained by averaging the results was 1.63 suprabasal dendritic cells/100 [mu] length and 50 [mu] thickness of normal human epidermis, with a calculated standard deviation of the mean of 0.59 and a standard error of the mean of 0.13.