title: Three dimensional arrangement of fibrocytes in the dermal papilla of the human sole skin.
abstract: The three dimensional arrangement of fibrocytes in the dermal papilla of the human sole skin was examined by the scanning and transmission electron microscopy after removal of the epidermis and collagenous fibers of the dermis by acidic maceration and enzymatic digestion with collagenase. Fibrocytes in the papillary layer were dendritic cells, consisting of bulky or flattened perikarya and numerous cytoplasmic processes of various size. The processes were anastomosed with those of neighboring cells forming a three-dimensional network. Fibrocytes around the blood capillaries were squamous and formed cellular sheaths, on which dendritic fibrocyte processes anchored. The outer surface of the papillae showed a fine villous appearance. It was composed of densely arranged tiny processes of fibrocytes, tops of which were almost at the same level. These processes may be sites for fibrillar attachment and play a role in dermal anchoring to the epidermis. In the reticular layer, fibrocytes were flattened, stellate cells which were anastomosed with neighboring cells and formed two-dimensional latticework. These cellular lattices were arranged in lamellae, oriented roughly parallel to the skin surface. Nerve bundles were often encountered in the labyrinthine space of the fibrocytic network.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Omagari
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D004817:Epidermis / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005528:Foot; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008871:Microvilli / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure