title: Silver-stained nucleolar organizer regions in hypertrophic and keloid scars.
abstract: Silver-stained nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) have been widely used as a marker of cellular activity and proliferation. In a retrospective study, we investigated the potential value of AgNORs in 12 hypertrophic and 24 keloid scar tissues. Ten normal skin tissues served as controls. A standard silver-staining method was used, and the mean AgNOR count of dermal fibroblastic cells in each tissue was determined. In normal skin, the mean AgNOR count of dermal fibroblasts was 1.79+/-0.55, whereas fibroblastic cells in hypertrophic and keloid scars had mean AgNOR counts of 3.18+/-0.56 and 5.10+/-0.97, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean AgNOR counts of fibroblastic cells from normal skin, hypertrophic scar, and keloid scar [one-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA), p < 0.0001]. Our findings suggest that AgNOR count may be a useful marker for assessment of fibroblastic cell activity in hypertrophic and keloid scars, which may have potential value for histologic and biologic characterization of the two lesions.
authors.affiliation: Central Institute for Electron Microscopic Researches, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghazizadeh
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyata
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aihara
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015415:Biomarkers; D002455:Cell Division; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017439:Cicatrix, Hypertrophic / Q000473:pathology*; D003094:Collagen; D004396:Coloring Agents; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D007627:Keloid / Q000473:pathology*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012835:Silver Nitrate; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004396:Coloring Agents; D003094:Collagen; D012835:Silver Nitrate