Summary
Biopsies were taken at intervals up to 72 hours from two volunteers after the keratinized layer had been stripped from skin over the sacrum with adhesive tape. Within 16 hours there had been a proliferation of non-myelinated axons and accessory neural cells leading to axon sprouts growing into the epidermis, and by 40 hours a few accessory neural cells had also penetrated the epidermis. This proliferative stage reached a peak in 64 hours and by 72 hours degenerative changes were preponderant.
Forty eight hours after stripping the mitotic index among the cells of the stratum germinativum had risen significantly and, 64 hours after stripping the histological picture presented by the skin as a whole resembled that in biopsies from clinically normal skin of patients with psoriasis.
The relationship of these observations to a) the influence of nerve fibres on the mitotic activity of epidermal cells, b) the anatomy of cutaneous sensibility and c) the pathogenesis of leprosy, have been discussed.
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Dedicated to Prof. W. Bargman on his 60th birthday.
Our thanks are due to the two volunteers (W.S. and J. R.) who were kind enough to Take part in these experiments, and to An Mitchell for her assistance with the histology.
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Allenby, C.F., Palmer, E. & Weddell, G. Changes in the dermis of human hairy skin resulting from stripping the keratinized layer off the epidermis. Z.Zellforsch 69, 566–572 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406302
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406302