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Experimental Chronic Dermatophytosis in Human Skin Grafted to Nude Mouse: Inoculation of Trichophytons and Histopathological Evaluation
Author(s) -
Kakutani Hiroyuki,
Takahashi Shinya
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
the journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1346-8138
pISSN - 0385-2407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1346-8138.1988.tb03683.x
Subject(s) - dermis , inoculation , stratum corneum , dermatophyte , biology , histiocyte , microbiology and biotechnology , trichophyton rubrum , infiltration (hvac) , pathology , anatomy , medicine , immunology , antifungal , physics , thermodynamics
Abstract Two strains of T. rubrum and one strain of T. mentagrophytes were inoculated into human skin grafted onto BALB/c nude mice by the needle puncture method. Infection was established in 1 of the 10 animals inoculated with fluffy colony type T. rubrum , 2 of the 10 animals inoculated with powdery colony type T. rubrum , and 7 of the 10 animals inoculated with granular colony type T. mentagrophytes , suggesting that the skin grafts are infectible by anthropophilic and zoophilic strains of dermatophytes. T. rubrum infection continued for a maximum of 9 weeks and T. mentagrophytes infection for more than 11 weeks. In the animals inoculated with T. mentagrophytes , fungal elements were localized in the stratum corneum of the human skin grafts. In the acute stage, microabscesses consisting of neutrophils were observed under the stratum corneum in contact with fungal elements; in the chronic stage, epidermal thickening and infiltration, mainly consisting of histiocytes and a smaller number of lymphocytes, was noted in the upper and middle dermis. Ultrastructural findings from the parasites were similar to those of dermatophytosis in man. This experimental system should be useful as a model of chronic dermatophyte infection in the human skin.