Premium
Ultrastructural studies of epidermal lesions in pityriasis lichenoides chronica
Author(s) -
WATANABE SATORU,
KOMURA JINRO,
OFUJI SHIGEO
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2133.1977.tb05186.x
Subject(s) - ultrastructure , pathology , vacuole , endoplasmic reticulum , cytoplasm , electron microscope , epidermis (zoology) , biology , medicine , anatomy , microbiology and biotechnology , physics , optics
SUMMARY Very early skin lesions from four patients with pityriasis lichenoides chronica were examined by electron microscopy. Aggregates of tubular structures, which resembled those reported in endothelium in lupus erythematosus and are currently being observed in an increasing variety of conditions, were noticed in the epidermal cells of all patients. These cells also showed intracytoplasmic desmosomes, and isolated mitochondria and myelin‐like figures in intercellular spaces, in addition to the occurrence of vacuoles and lysosomes in the cytoplasm, dilatation of endoplasmic reticulum and alteration of mitochondria. Occasionally, epidermal cells were seen to be individually filled with fibrils. These ultrastructural findings seem to indicate that in pityriasis lichenoides chronica some injury to epidermal cells occurs at the early stage of pathological processes, as suggested by light microscope studies.