Alignment of desmosomes in stratifying human epidermis

Summary

Cultured human epithelial cells stained with antibody to desmosomal proteins by indirect immunofluorescence showed linear arrays of desmosomes en face between stratified cells. To confirm that an extensive linear pattern existed on the cell surface, subconfluent cultures were viewed using scanning electron microscopy. Aligned arrays of blunt protrusions lying parallel to each other and extending in the direction of the long axis of the cell were observed on the surface of groups of superficial cells in intact cultures. That this pattern was indeed related to desmosomal distribution was verified by transmission microscopy of thin sections cut in a plane between the upper and lower surfaces of flattened stratified cells to view desmosomes directly. A similar arrangement of desmosomes was seen in intact tissue, using epidermal sheets separated from newborn foreskin. The same pattern found in flattened cells was sometimes apparent in more rounded basal cells where the cytoplasm was beginning to extend. Since desmosomal plaques are associated with keratin filaments, the alignment of desmosomes must occur in association with cytoskeletal changes as cells become flattened toward the distal epithelial surface. The primary initiation of desmosomal alignment remains to be investigated. However, the present findings demonstrate an increasingly regular membrane-cytoskeletal spatial interaction as stratified epithelial cells of skin mature.