Effect of colchicine on atherosclerosis. III. Study of dermal elastic fibers by quantitative histochemistry, automated image analysis.
Computerized automatic-image analytical procedure was applied on dermal biopsies stained for elastin by a new procedure giving a completely white background and staining only the elastic fiber system. In arteriosclerotic hypertensive patients, a 3-4 months' treatment with 1 mg colchicine per day resulted in a significant (60-80%, p less than 0.01) increase of the dermal elastic fiber density both in the superficial papillary dermis and in the deep dermis. This result shows that the age-dependent increase of elastic fibers can be influenced by pharmacological means. The inhibition by colchicine of the synthesis and secretion of the fibroblast-derived metalloelastase-type protease could be a plausible explanation of this finding.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003078:Colchicine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004548:Elasticity; D004549:Elastin / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012867:Skin / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*
D004549:Elastin; D003078:Colchicine