[Morphodynamics of the axolotl epidermis (Siredon mixicanum Shaw) under the influence of exogenously applied thyroxin. 3. Epidermis of the metamorphosed axolotl].
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Proteins involved in the process of cornification of turtle epidermis are not well known. The present immunocytochemical, electrophoretic and autoradiographic study reports on the localization patterns and molecular weights of keratins, which are cornification proteins, and of tritiated histidine in turtle epidermis. Alpha-keratins with a molecular weight of 40-62 kDa are present in the epidermis. Beta-keratin is mainly detectable in the stratum corneum of the carapace and plastron, but is rarely present or even absent in the corneous layer of limb, tail and neck epidermis. After electrophoresis and immunoblotting with an antibody against chicken scale beta-keratin, bands at 15-17, 22-24, and 36-38 kDa appeared. This antibody recognized weaker bands at 38-40 and 58-60 kDa in the soft epidermis. After reduction and carboxymethylation of proteins extracted from carapace and plastron, but not of proteins from the soft epidermis, protein bands at 15-17 and 35-37 kDa were found when using the anti-beta 1-keratin antibody. Loricrin-, filaggrin-, sciellin-, and transglutaminase-like immunostaining was detectable only in the transitional and lowermost corneous layers of the soft epidermis. Vesicular bodies in the transitional layer were immunolabeled by the anti-loricrin antibody, and weakly by the anti-filaggrin and anti-transglutaminase antibodies. In immunoblots, the anti-loricrin antibody reacted with a major band at 50-54 kDa in both carapace-plastron and soft epidermis. The anti-sciellin antibody detected major bands at 38-40 and 50 kDa in hard epidermis, and at 50 and 54-56 kDa in soft epidermis. Filaggrin-like immunostained bands were observed at 50-55 and 62-64 kDa. This immunostaining was probably due to a common epitope in filaggrin and some keratins. Histidine was evenly incorporated in the epidermis, and the ultrastructural study showed random labeling, often associated with keratin bundles of alpha and beta-keratinocytes. Histidine-labeled protein bands were not found in the carapace-plastron. In the soft epidermis, weakly labeled bands at 15-20, 25, and 45-60 kDa were found occasionally. The latter bands probably represented neo-synthesized keratins as was also indicated by the ultrastructural autoradiographic analysis. In conclusion, our study suggests that proteins with epitopes that they have in common with cornification proteins of mammalian epidermis are also present in the epidermis of turtle.
The epidermis of members of the major parasitic taxon Neodermata is distinctive among flatworms, being a syncytial, insunk, non-ciliated epidermis that develops through a wholesale replacement of larval epidermis at metamorphosis when the larva attacks a host. How it arose in evolution from what must have been a turbellarian-like ancestor is not immediately evident. While many turbellarian flatworms have also adopted a symbiotic way of life, the literature on ultrastructure of epidermis in these symbionts shows quite a variety of morphologies, many not so different from that of their free-living relatives. Various turbellarians do have syncytial or insunk epidermises or reduction of epidermal ciliation as is characteristic of the Neodermata, but co-occurrence in a single turbellarian of all features common to neodermatans has not been reported. Urastoma cyprinae, for example, which is ectosymbiotic on bivalves, has a ciliated cellular epidermis that is little different from what is known of epidermises of its free-living relatives. The endoparasitic Anoplodium hymanae, from the coelom of sea cucumbers, also bears a ciliated cellular epidermis, as is typical of many other rhabdocoels, but it shows marked phagocytic activity as well as incorporation of endosymbiotic bacteria. The closest similarity to neodermatan epidermis is that of the turbellarian Genostoma kozloffi, an ectosymbiont of the crustacean Nebalia: covering the bulk of the body is a non-ciliated syncytium with multiple branching connections to insunk nucleated portions, much as in epidermis of adult neodermatans and, on its ventral surface, is a field of ciliated cellular insunk epidermis resembling the epidermis of some larval neodermatans. Developmental clues to the origin of the neodermatan epidermis can be seen in turbellarian embryos. Before hatching, embryos of proseriate and triclad embryos go through 3 generations of epidermis, each replacing the next; 2 generations of epidermis are reported in the literature on rhabdocoel embryos. This process of replacement parallels the epidermal replacement that larval neodermatans undergo at metamorphosis. Ultrastructural study of developing acoel, polyclad and macrostomid embryos shows that they, too, have epidermal replacement and growth through immigration of deeper-lying cells, comparable to the processes seen in higher flatworms. Succession of distinct generations of epidermis in such animals as the proseriates, triclads and rhabdocoels is probably an adaptation to development of ectolecithal eggs, providing the means for the embryo to use yolk that resides in vitellocytes, outside its blastomeres. We propose that the Neodermata has taken advantage of this developmental mechanism, producing successive generations of epidermal cells even in its larval stages, to counter the defenses of hosts.
Psoriatic involved epidermis reveals variously altered receptor-adenylate cyclase responses; among them the most prominent is defective beta-adrenergic adenylate cyclase response, which is normally the major receptor-adenylate cyclase system of human epidermis. It is known that activation of hormone-stimulated adenylate cyclase, a membrane-bound enzyme complex, requires functional coupling of at least 3 distinct subunits: 1) receptor subunit (R), 2) guanine nucleotide binding protein (G), and 3) catalytic subunit (C). The precise nature of the beta-adrenergic defect in the psoriatic epidermis, however, remains to be determined, especially in terms of G and C function. Using the involved and uninvolved skin from psoriatic patients, we investigated effects of cholera toxin (which monitors G-C interaction) and forskolin (which monitors C function) on the adenylate cyclase system of epidermis, which were compared with those of normal human epidermis. Both agents increased cyclic AMP levels of involved, uninvolved, and normal human epidermis. Marked accumulations were observed in the presence of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase inhibitor, isobutyl-methylxanthine (IBMX); without the phosphodiesterase inhibitor, the effect of each agent was minimal. Comparison of the effects of cholera toxin revealed that the psoriatic involved epidermis accumulates much more cyclic AMP than the uninvolved epidermis (involved: 193 +/- 65; uninvolved: 117 +/- 54 pmoles/mg protein/5 h). Similarly forskolin-induced cyclic AMP accumulations of the involved epidermis were much more than those of uninvolved epidermis (involved: 374 +/- 152; uninvolved: 101 +/- 41 pmoles/mg protein/2 h). Those of normal human epidermis were not significantly different from those of uninvolved epidermis (cholera toxin: 99 +/- 36 pmoles/mg protein/5 h; forskolin: 84 +/- 22 pmoles/mg protein/2 h). Our results indicate that G and C function and their interaction is not defective (but rather increased) in the psoriatic involved epidermis. This suggests that the defective beta-adrenergic response of psoriatic involved epidermis reflects defective R or R-G interaction of the epidermal adenylate cyclase system.
In larval X. laevis the capacity to regenerate a lens under the influence of inductive factors present in the vitreous chamber is restricted to the outer cornea and pericorneal epidermis (Lentogenic Area, LA). However, in early embryos, the whole ectoderm is capable of responding to inductive factors of the larval eye forming lens cells. In a previous paper, Cannata et al. (2003) demonstrated that the persistence of lens-forming competence in the LA is the result of early signals causing lens-forming bias in the presumptive LA and of late signals from the eye causing cornea development. This paper analyzes 1) the decrease of the lens-forming capacity in ectodermal regions both near LA (head epidermis) and far from LA (flank epidermis) during development, 2) the capacity of the head epidermis and flank epidermis to respond to lens-competence promoting factors released by an eye transplanted below these epidermal regions, and 3) the eye components responsible for the promoting effect of the transplanted eye. Results were obtained by implanting fragments of ectoderm or epidermis into the vitreous chamber of host tadpoles and by evaluating the percentage of implants positive to a monoclonal antibody anti-lens. These results demonstrated that the lens-forming competence in the flank region is lost at the embryonic stage 30/31 and is weakly restored by eye transplantation; however, lens-forming competence in the head region is lost at the larval stage 48 and is strongly restored by eye transplantation. The authors hypothesize that during development the head ectoderm outside the LA is attained by low levels of the same signals that attain the LA and that these signals are responsible for the maintenance of lens-forming competence in the cornea and pericorneal epidermis of the larva. In this hypothesis, low levels of these signals slacken the decrease of the lens-forming competence in the head ectoderm and make the head epidermis much more responsive than the flank epidermis to the effect of promoting factors released by a transplanted eye. Results obtained after transplantation of eyes deprived of some components indicate that the lens and the retina are the main source of these promoting factors. The immunohistochemical detection of the FGFR-2 (bek variant) protein in the epidermis of stage 53 larvae submitted to eye transplantation at stage 46 showed that the eye transplantation increased the level of FGFR-2 protein in the head epidermis but not in the flank epidermis, indicating that the lens-forming competence in X. laevis epidermis could be related to the presence of an activated FGF receptor system in the responding tissue.
The skin from rats of differing age was used to quantify variations in the cell kinetics of the epidermis and the follicular epithelium of different body sites. Four parameters were assessed, namely the basal cell density (BCD), the labelling index (LI), the duration of DNA synthesis (ts) and the basal cell turnover time (tT). The BCDs of the epidermis of the dorsum and the upper surface of the foot were similar in rats of 7, 14 and 52 weeks of age, but there was an indication of a progressive decline with increasing age in the BCD of the epidermis of the ear and tail. There were no age-related changes in the length of ts in any of the four body regions. The rate of cell proliferation, as indicated by the values of the LI and tT, was relatively rapid in the epidermis of the dorsum, foot and tail of rats aged 7 weeks (LI greater than 12%; tT less than 80 h). In rats aged 14 weeks this rate of proliferation was maintained in the epidermis of the dorsum. However, in the foot and tail the rate of cell proliferation was decreased (LI less than 10%; tT greater than 85 h). A fall in the rate of proliferation of the epidermis of the dorsum was only seen in 52-week-old animals. In these animals the rates of proliferation in the foot and tail were similar to those at the age of 14 weeks. In the epidermis of the ear there was no appreciable change in the rate of cell proliferation with age. The values of the cell kinetic parameters varied in the different body sites. For example, in 52-week-old animals values for tT were relatively short in the epidermis of the tail and foot and appreciably longer in the epidermis of the dorsum and ear. Considered overall, values for the cell kinetic parameters of the epidermis were comparable with those for the follicular epithelium. The only major differences between the epidermis and the follicular epithelium were in the upper surface of the foot at 7 weeks of age, and in the tail at 7 and 14 weeks of age, where the LI was higher and the tT shorter in the epidermis than in the follicular epithelium. The relevance of the observed age- and body-site-related variations in the cell kinetics of the epidermis are discussed in relation to previously described differential changes in the radiosensitivity of the skin in this strain of rat.
The expression of acidic and basic keratins, and of some keratinization marker proteins such as filaggrin, loricrin, involucrin, and trichohyalin, is known for the epidermis of only a few eutherian species. Using light and high-resolution immunocytochemistry, the presence of these proteins has been studied in two monotreme and five marsupial species and compared to that in eutherians. In both monotreme and marsupial epidermis lamellar bodies occur in the upper spinosus and granular layers. Development of the granular layer varies between species and regionally within species. There is great interspecific variation in the size (0.1-3.0 microm) of keratohyalin granules (KHGs) associated with production of orthokeratotic corneous tissues. Those skin regions lacking hairs (platypus web), or showing reduced pelage density (wombat) have, respectively, minute or indiscernible KHGs, associated with patchy, or total, parakeratosis. Ultrastructural analysis shows that monotreme and marsupial KHGs comprise irregular coarse filaments of 25-40 nm that contact keratin filaments. Except for parakeratotic tissues of platypus web, distribution of acidic and basic proteins in monotreme and marsupial epidermis as revealed by anti-keratin antibodies AE1, AE2, and AE3 resembles that of eutherian epidermis. Antibodies against human or rat filaggrins have little or no cross-reactivity with epidermal proteins of other mammals: only sparse areas of wombat and rabbit epidermis show a weak immunofluorescence in transitional cells and in the deepest corneous tissues. Of the available, eutherian-derived antibodies, that against involucrin shows no cross-reactivity with any monotreme and marsupial epidermal tissues and that against trichohyalin cross-reacts only with cells in the inner root sheath and medulla of hairs. These results suggest that if involucrin and trichohyalin are present throughout noneutherian epidermis, they may have species-specific molecular structures. By contrast, eutherian-derived anti-loricrin antibodies show a weak to intense cross-reactivity to KHGs and corneous tissues of both orthokeratotic and parakeratotic epidermis in monotremes and marsupials. High-resolution immunogold analysis of loricrin distribution in immature keratinocytes of platypus parakeratotic web epidermis identifies labeled areas of round or irregular, electron-pale granules within the denser keratohyalin component and keratin network. In the deepest mature tissues, loricrin-like labeling is diffuse throughout the cytoplasm, so that cells lack the preferential distribution of loricrin along the corneous envelope that characterizes mature eutherian keratinocytes. Thus, the irregular distribution of loricrin in platypus parakeratotic tissues more resembles that which has been described for reptilian and avian keratinocytes. These observations on the noneutherian epidermis show that a stratum granulosum is present to different degrees, even discontinuous within one tissue, so that parakeratotic and orthokeratotic areas may alternate: this might imply that parakeratotic monotreme epidermis reflects the primitive pattern of amniote alpha-keratogenesis. Absent from anamniote epidermis and all sauropsid beta-keratogenic tissues, the ubiquitous presence of a loricrin-like protein as a major component of other amniote corneous tissues suggests that this is a primitive feature of amniote alpha-keratogenesis. The apparent lack of specific regionalization of loricin near the plasma membranes of monotreme keratinocytes could be an artifactual result of the immunofluorescence technique employed, or there may be masking of the antigenicity of loricrin-like proteins once they are incorporated into the corneous envelope. Nevertheless, the mechanism of redistribution of such proteins during maturation of monotreme keratinocytes is different from, perhaps more primitive, or less specialized, than that in the epidermis of eutherian mammals.
A fully differentiated epidermis generated in vitro by culturing normal human keratinocytes at the air-liquid interface shares many similarities with native tissue. However, in contrast to native epidermis, its stratum corneum consists of a larger number of compactly packed corneocyte layers, indicating that the processes involved in corneocyte desquamation are disturbed. Although the tri-lamellar appearance of desmosomes in viable cell layers of both types of epidermis is similar, abnormalities in the transformation of desmosomes into the corneosomal plug in the stratum corneum of reconstructed epidermis have been observed. In the native epidermis, desmosomes are transformed into corneosomes at the stratum granulosum/stratum corneum interface. This process is retarded in vitro, since desmosomal structures with preserved lamellar appearance are present in the lower parts of the stratum corneum. Moreover, the corneosome frequency in reconstructed epidermis is significantly higher than in native human skin. A comparison of reconstructed epidermis with hyperproliferative epidermis, such as UV-irradiated epidermis, psoriatic epidermis and recently healed burn-wounds treated with cultured epidermal autografts, has revealed that only the structure of the stratum corneum derived from psoriatic skin is similar to that of reconstructed epidermis. The stratum corneum organization in the UV-treated epidermis and in recently healed burn-wound is, however, close to that seen in native skin.
In epidermis, it has been suggested, intercellular communication through gap junctions is important in coordinating cell behavior. The connexins, may facilitate selective assembly or permeability of gap junctions, influencing the distribution of metabolites between cells. Using immunohistochemistry, we have compared the distribution of connexins 26 and 43 with that of proliferating cells (Ki67 labeling) in normal epidermis, hyperplastic epidermis (tape-stripped epidermis, psoriatic lesions, and viral warts), and vaginal and buccal epithelia. Connexin 43 was abundant in spinous layers of all epidermal specimens and in vaginal and buccal epithelia. Connexin 26 was absent from the interfollicular and interductal epidermis of normal hair-bearing skin, and nonlesional psoriatic epidermis but present at very low levels in plantar epidermis. Connexin 26 was prominent in lesional psoriatic epidermis and viral warts and in vaginal and buccal epithelia. In three independent experiments connexin 26 appeared in a patchy intercellular distribution in the basal epidermis within 24 h of tape stripping, proceeding to more extensive distribution in basal and suprabasal layers by 48 h. The increase in connexin 26 preceded that in cell proliferation. In vaginal epithelium, buccal epithelium, and viral warts connexin 26 was restricted mainly to suprabasal, nonproliferating cells. In psoriatic lesional epidermis connexin 26 was also located mainly in suprabasal, nonproliferating cells. Connexin 26 was present in a patchy distribution in the basal layer of psoriatic lesional epidermis, but double labeling for connexin 26 and Ki67 showed that many connexin 26 positive basal cells were nonproliferative, suggesting that connexin 26 may be related to differentiation rather than to proliferation. These observations would be consistent with a role for connexin 26 containing gap junctions during both early and later stages of keratinocyte differentiation in hyperplastic epidermis and in vaginal and buccal epithelia.
We measured enzymic and non-enzymic antioxidants in human epidermis and dermis from six healthy volunteers undergoing surgical procedures. Epidermis was separated from dermis by curettage and antioxidants were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or standard spectrophotometric methods. The concentration of every antioxidant (referenced to skin wet weight) was higher in the epidermis than in the dermis. Among the enzymic antioxidants, the activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase were higher in the epidermis compared to the dermis by 126, 61 and 215%, respectively. Catalase activity in particular was much higher (720%) in the epidermis. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and isocitrate dehydrogenase, which provide reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), also showed higher activity in the epidermis than the dermis by 111% and 313%, respectively. Among the lipophilic antioxidants, the concentration of alpha-tocopherol was higher in the epidermis than the dermis by 90%. The concentration of ubiquinol 10 was especially higher in the epidermis, by 900%. Among the hydrophilic antioxidants, concentrations of ascorbic acid and uric acid were also higher in the epidermis than in the dermis by 425 and 488%, respectively. Reduced glutathione and total glutathione were higher in the epidermis than in the dermis by 513 and 471%. Thus the antioxidant capacity of the human epidermis is far greater than that of dermis. As the epidermis composes the outermost 10% of the skin and acts as the initial barrier to oxidant assault, it is perhaps not surprising that it has higher levels of antioxidants.
In amphibian epidermis mucus is thought to constitute the matrix material that links keratin filaments present in cells of the corneous layer. As contrast in mammals, and perhaps in all amniotes, histidine-rich proteins form the matrix material. In order to address the study of matrix molecules in the epidermis of the first tetrapods, the amphibians, an autoradiographic and electrophoretic study has been done after administration of tritiated histidine. Histological analysis of amphibian epidermis shows that histidine is taken up in the upper intermediate and replacement layers beneath the corneous layer. Ultrastructural autoradiographic analysis reveals that electron-dense interkeratin material is labeled after administration of tritiated histidine. Electrophoretic analysis of the epidermis shows labeled proteic bands at 58-61, 50-55, 40-45, and some only weakly labeled at 30 and 24-25 kDa at 4-48 hours after injection of tritiated histidine. Keratin markers show that bands at 40-61 kDa contain keratins. Most histidine is probably converted into other amino acids such as glutamate and glutamine that are incorporated into newly synthetized keratins. However, non-keratin histidine-incorporating proteins within the keratin range could also be formed. The bands at 30 and 24-25 kDa suggest that these putative histidine-rich proteins are not keratins. In fact, their molecular weigh is below the range of that for keratins. In contrast with the mammalian condition, but resembling reports for lizard epidermis, putative histidine-rich proteins in amphibians have no high molecular weight precursor. Although filaggrin is not detectable by immunofluorescence in sections of amphibian epidermis, protein extraction, electrophoresis and immunoblotting are more sensitive. In the epidermis of toad and frog, but only occasionally in that of newt, filaggrin cross-reactive proteic bands are seen at 50-55, 40-45, and sometimes at 25 kDa. This suggests that after extraction and unmasking of reactive sites in the epidermis of more terrestrial amphians (anurans), some HRPs with filaggrin-like cross-reactivity are present. The overlap that exists at 50-55 kDa between filaggrin-positive and AE2-positive keratins, but not that at 40-45 kDa further indicate that non-keratin, filaggrin-like proteins may be present in anuran epidermis. The present study suggests for the first time that very small amounts of histidine-rich proteins are produced among keratin filaments in upper intermediate, replacement and corneous layers of amphibian epidermis. Although the molecular composition of these proteins is unknown, precluding understanding of their relationship to those of mammals and reptiles, these cationic proteins might have originated in conjunction with the formation of a horny layer during the adaptation to land during the Carboniferous and were possibly refined later in the epidermis of amniotes.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Improved laser treatment of cutaneous hypervascular lesions is expected by utilizing higher incident dosages, longer pulse durations and longer wavelengths than those currently used in clinical settings. However, simply increasing the incident dosage will also increase the risk of nonspecific thermal injury to the epidermis due to light absorption by melanin. In this study, we investigated the thermal response of human skin epidermis to 595-nm wavelength laser irradiation at high incident dosages (up to 20 J/cm(2)) and long pulse durations (up to 40 milliseconds) in conjunction with cryogen spray cooling (CSC) using ex-vivo human skin samples. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Candela V-beam trade mark laser (595-nm wavelength) was used in the experiments. Ex-vivo human skin samples (Fitzpatrick types I-VI) were irradiated at the incident dosages D(0) = 4, 6, 10, 15, and 20 J/cm(2), laser pulse durations tau(laser) = 1.5, 10, and 40 milliseconds, without and with CSC (refrigerant-134A, spurt duration tau(CSC) = 100 milliseconds). Thermal injury to the epidermis was evaluated by histological observations. RESULTS: Under the same incident dosage, longer pulse durations led to reduced thermal injury to the epidermis. Without CSC, no demonstrable thermal injury to the epidermis was observed in skin types I-II irradiated at the incident dosage as high as 15 J/cm(2), and in skin types III-IV at 10 J/cm(2). When CSC was applied, no evidence of thermal injury to the epidermis was present in skin types I-II even when irradiated at the maximum available incident dosage of the laser system (20 J/cm(2)). In skin types III-IV, no demonstrable thermal injury to the epidermis was observed when using incident dosage as high as 15 J/cm(2) in conjunction with CSC. In skin type VI, thermal injury to the epidermis could not be avoided even at the setting D(0) = 4 J/cm(2), tau(laser) = 40 milliseconds in conjunction with CSC. CONCLUSIONS: For a given incident dosage, longer pulse durations help reduce thermal injury to the epidermis. When a 100-millisecond cryogen spurt is applied, thermal injury to the epidermis can be prevented in ex-vivo skin types I-IV when irradiated at higher incident dosages (15-20 J/cm(2)) than those currently used in clinical settings. Further studies on optimizing the CSC parameters in conjunction with the laser irradiation parameters are needed to protect skin types V-VI from thermal injury to the epidermis.