A semi-automated analysis method of small sensory nerve fibers in human skin-biopsies

Merkel cells are neurosecretory cells of the skin with epithelial features such as desmosomes and expression of keratins 8, 18, 19, and 20. Merkel cells are scarcely distributed in adult human skin. Although they are present in hair follicles, their density is higher at hairless anatomic sites such as palms and soles. These cells are often innervated by sensory nerve fibers and are thought to be specialized mechanosensory skin receptor cells. However, their precise origin and function are not clearly established. The aim of this study was to localize Merkel cells in human hairless and hairy skin by immunohistochemistry with antibodies Ks18.174 and Ks19.1 directed against keratins 18 and 19, respectively. In glabrous skin of palm and sole, Merkel cells have been localized at the bottom of the rete ridges, in the epidermal basal layer. To study Merkel cell distribution at hairy anatomic sites, we have chosen breast skin, a tissue containing small hair follicles typical of those covering most of the body's surface. Merkel cells were present in the interfollicular epidermis. In hair follicles, they have been identified in the isthmus region.Key words: skin, human, Merkel cell, keratin, hair follicle.

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425 Mast cells survival and maturation in human skin are regulated and maintained by sensory nerve fibers

Journal of Investigative Dermatology ◽

10.1016/j.jid.2016.02.460 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 136 (5) ◽

pp. S75 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

J. Chéret ◽

L. Ponce ◽

C. Le Gall-Ianotto ◽

L. Misery ◽

M. Bertolini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mast Cells ◽

Human Skin ◽

Sensory Nerve ◽

Nerve Fibers

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Localization of μ-opioid receptor 1A on sensory nerve fibers in human skin

Regulatory Peptides ◽

10.1016/s0167-0115(02)00159-3 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 110 (1) ◽

pp. 75-83 ◽

Cited By ~ 74

Author(s):

Sonja Ständer ◽

Matthias Gunzer ◽

Dieter Metze ◽

Thomas Luger ◽

Martin Steinhoff

Keyword(s):

Human Skin ◽

Opioid Receptor ◽

Sensory Nerve ◽

Nerve Fibers ◽

Μ Opioid Receptor

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Changes in corneocyte element concentrations occur in skin inner stratum corneum

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100134326 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 146-147

Author(s):

R. R. Warner

Keyword(s):

Stratum Corneum ◽

Human Skin ◽

Element Concentration ◽

Skin Barrier ◽

Barrier Properties ◽

Brick Wall ◽

Inorganic Elements ◽

Dry Skin ◽

Skin Biopsies ◽

Intercellular Lipid

Keratinocytes undergo maturation during their transit through the viable layers of skin, and then abruptly transform into flattened, anuclear corneocytes that constitute the cellular component of the skin barrier, the stratum corneum (SC). The SC is generally considered to be homogeneous in its structure and barrier properties, and is often shown schematically as a featureless brick wall, the “bricks” being the corneocytes, the “mortar” being intercellular lipid. Previously we showed the outer SC was not homogeneous in its composition, but contained steep gradients of the physiological inorganic elements Na, K and Cl, likely originating from sweat salts. Here we show the innermost corneocytes in human skin are also heterogeneous in composition, undergoing systematic changes in intracellular element concentration during transit into the interior of the SC.Human skin biopsies were taken from the lower leg of individuals with both “good” and “dry” skin and plunge-frozen in a stirred, cooled isopentane/propane mixture.

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Axon typing of rat muscle nerves using a double staining procedure for cholinesterase and carbonic anhydrase.

Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry ◽

10.1177/39.12.1719070 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 39 (12) ◽

pp. 1617-1625 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

M J Szabolcs ◽

A Windisch ◽

R Koller ◽

M Pensch

Keyword(s):

Carbonic Anhydrase ◽

Cross Sections ◽

Sensory Nerve ◽

Histological Section ◽

Trapezius Muscle ◽

Motor Units ◽

Conventional Technique ◽

Nerve Fibers ◽

Staining Procedure ◽

Muscle Nerve

We developed a method for detecting activity of axonal cholinesterase (CE) and carbonic anhydrase (CA)--markers for motor and sensory nerve fibers (NFs)--in the same histological section. To reach this goal, cross-sections of muscle nerves were sequentially incubated with the standard protocols for CE and CA histochemistry. A modified incubation medium was used for CA in which Co++ is replaced by Ni++. This avoids interference of the two histochemical reactions because Co++ binds unspecifically to the brown copper-ferroferricyanide complex representing CE activity, whereas Ni++ does not. Cross-sections of the trapezius muscle nerve containing efferent and afferent NFs in segregated fascicles showed that CE activity was confined to motor NFs. Axonal CA was detected solely in sensory NFs. The number of labeled motor and sensory NFs determined in serial cross-sections stained with either the new or the conventional technique was not significantly different. Morphometric analysis revealed that small unreactive NFs (diameter less than 5 microns) are afferent, medium-sized ones (5 microns less than d less than 7 microns) are unclassifiable, and large ones (d greater than 7 microns) are efferent. The heterogenous CE activity of thick (alpha) motor NFs is linked to the type of their motor units. "Fast" motor units contain CE reactive NFs; "slow" ones have CE negative neurites.

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Prion Infection of Skeletal Muscle Cells and Papillae in the Tongue

Journal of Virology ◽

10.1128/jvi.78.13.6792-6798.2004 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 78 (13) ◽

pp. 6792-6798 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Ellyn R. Mulcahy ◽

Jason C. Bartz ◽

Anthony E. Kincaid ◽

Richard A. Bessen

Keyword(s):

Skeletal Muscle ◽

Sensory Nerve ◽

Meat Products ◽

Muscle Cells ◽

Nerve Fibers ◽

Skeletal Muscle Cells ◽

Lingual Papillae ◽

Intracerebral Inoculation ◽

Axon Terminals ◽

Prion Infection

ABSTRACT The presence of the prion agent in skeletal muscle is thought to be due to the infection of nerve fibers located within the muscle. We report here that the pathological isoform of the prion protein, PrPSc, accumulates within skeletal muscle cells, in addition to axons, in the tongue of hamsters following intralingual and intracerebral inoculation of the HY strain of the transmissible mink encephalopathy agent. Localization of PrPSc to the neuromuscular junction suggests that this synapse is a site for prion agent spread between motor axon terminals and muscle cells. Following intracerebral inoculation, the majority of PrPSc in the tongue was found in the lamina propria, where it was associated with sensory nerve fibers in the core of the lingual papillae. PrPSc staining was also identified in the stratified squamous epithelium of the lingual mucosa. These findings indicate that prion infection of skeletal muscle cells and the epithelial layer in the tongue can be established following the spread of the prion agent from nerve terminals and/or axons that innervate the tongue. Our data suggest that ingestion of meat products containing prion-infected tongue could result in human exposure to the prion agent, while sloughing of prion-infected epithelial cells at the mucosal surface of the tongue could be a mechanism for prion agent shedding and subsequent prion transmission in animals.

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Lumbosacral intersegmental epispinal axons and ectopic ventral nerve rootlets

Journal of Neurosurgery ◽

10.3171/jns.1987.67.2.0269 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 67 (2) ◽

pp. 269-277 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Wesley W. Parke ◽

Ryo Watanabe

Keyword(s):

Nerve Root ◽

Sensory Nerve ◽

Conus Medullaris ◽

Spinal Nerve ◽

Nerve Fibers ◽

Ventral Horn ◽

Spinal Nerve Roots ◽

Nerve Roots ◽

Content Type ◽

Almost All

✓ An epispinal system of motor axons virtually covers the ventral and lateral funiculi of the human conus medullaris between the L-2 and S-2 levels. These nerve fibers apparently arise from motor cells of the ventral horn nuclei and join spinal nerve roots caudal to their level of origin. In all observed spinal cords, many of these axons converged at the cord surface and formed an irregular group of ectopic rootlets that could be visually traced to join conventional spinal nerve roots at one to several segments inferior to their original segmental level; occasional rootlets joined a dorsal nerve root. As almost all previous reports of nerve root interconnections involved only the dorsal roots and have been cited to explain a lack of an absolute segmental sensory nerve distribution, it is believed that these intersegmental motor fibers may similarly explain a more diffuse efferent distribution than has previously been suspected.

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