TY - JOUR
T1 - Natural and perturbed distributions of Langerhans cells
T2 - Responses to ultraviolet light, heterotopic skin grafting, and dinitrofluorobenzene sensitization
AU - Bergstresser, P. R.
AU - Toews, G. B.
AU - Streilein, J. W.
N1 - Funding Information:
Nucleated keratinocytes constitute a matrix of cells between the stratum corneum and the papillary dermis. Langerhans cells reside within this matrix as a distinct population of dendritic cells distributed in a network over the skin smface in all mammalian species studied. Since their first identification by the propensity to take up ionic gold more than a centmy ago, Langerhans cells and their function have been subjects of considerable controversy [1,2). Today they are associated with important immunologic functions, and the supporting evidence, although still largely circumstantial, comes from several vantage points. First, Langerhans cells exclusively among epider-mal cells bear surface molecules with important immunologic functions: C3 and Fe receptors [3,4], Ia antigens in mice [5], and B cell allo~ntigens in guinea pigs and humans [6,7). Second, Langerhans cells selectively take up several small molecules, some of which serve as haptens in delayed contact hypersensitivity [8). Third, disaggregated epidermal cell suspensions en- This work was supported by in part by U. S. Public Health Service Grants AI-09082, AI-10679, AM-19101, and AM-25563. Reprint requests to: Paul R. Bergstresser, M.D., Division of Dermatology, University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75235. Abbreviations: DNFB: 2,4-dinitro-1-fluorobenzene MED: minimal erythemal dose
PY - 1980
Y1 - 1980
N2 - Epidermal Langerhans cells exhibit many features of macrophages/monocytes. Both bear surface receptors for the Fc portion of immunoglobulin molecules and the C3b complement component. Both take up, process, and present antigens to reactive lymphocytes in an effective fashion, and they display on their cell surfaces the alloantigenic determinants encoded by the I region of the major histocompatibility complex. In view of these facts, we explored the extent to which cutaneous sites with unusual immunologic attributes might correspondingly have maldistributions or decreased surface densities of Langerhans cells. Common body sites such as the ear, back, and abdominal wall skin in hamsters, mice, and guinea pigs had regularly distributed ATPase-positive Langerhans cells in surface densities between 500 and 1,500 cells/mm2. In contrast, hamster cheek pouch epithelium had fewer than 200 Langerhans cells/mm2 and murine tail skin exhibited both a decreased density and an unusual gridlike distribution of the cells. Langerhans cells were never demonstrated in corneal epithelium. Perturbation of body wall skin with ultraviolet light and with dinitrofluorobenzene temporarily depleted the skin of ATPase-positive Langerhans cells. Heterotopic grafts of hamster cheek pouch and murine tail skin tended to accumulate Langerhans cells and become more like body wall skin. The concordance of Langerhans cell aberrations and unusual immunologic features of corneal cheek pouches and tail skins suggests the possibility that intentional perturbations of surface Langerhans cells, as with UVL, might achieve unusual immunologic reactions within normal body wall skin.
AB - Epidermal Langerhans cells exhibit many features of macrophages/monocytes. Both bear surface receptors for the Fc portion of immunoglobulin molecules and the C3b complement component. Both take up, process, and present antigens to reactive lymphocytes in an effective fashion, and they display on their cell surfaces the alloantigenic determinants encoded by the I region of the major histocompatibility complex. In view of these facts, we explored the extent to which cutaneous sites with unusual immunologic attributes might correspondingly have maldistributions or decreased surface densities of Langerhans cells. Common body sites such as the ear, back, and abdominal wall skin in hamsters, mice, and guinea pigs had regularly distributed ATPase-positive Langerhans cells in surface densities between 500 and 1,500 cells/mm2. In contrast, hamster cheek pouch epithelium had fewer than 200 Langerhans cells/mm2 and murine tail skin exhibited both a decreased density and an unusual gridlike distribution of the cells. Langerhans cells were never demonstrated in corneal epithelium. Perturbation of body wall skin with ultraviolet light and with dinitrofluorobenzene temporarily depleted the skin of ATPase-positive Langerhans cells. Heterotopic grafts of hamster cheek pouch and murine tail skin tended to accumulate Langerhans cells and become more like body wall skin. The concordance of Langerhans cell aberrations and unusual immunologic features of corneal cheek pouches and tail skins suggests the possibility that intentional perturbations of surface Langerhans cells, as with UVL, might achieve unusual immunologic reactions within normal body wall skin.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0018895910&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0018895910&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1523-1747.ep12521261
DO - 10.1111/1523-1747.ep12521261
M3 - Article
C2 - 6446586
AN - SCOPUS:0018895910
SN - 0022-202X
VL - 75
SP - 73
EP - 77
JO - Journal of Investigative Dermatology
JF - Journal of Investigative Dermatology
IS - 1
ER -