High iron and low ascorbic acid concentrations in the dermis of atopic dermatitis patients.
BACKGROUND
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease in which reactive oxygen species (ROS) may be involved. Iron catalyses ROS formation and ascorbic acid (AA) scavenges these species.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this work was to determine iron and AA levels in AD patients' dermis and to compare their concentrations with those of healthy volunteers' dermis.


METHODS
Five AD patients and 5 healthy subjects (controls) were enrolled in this study. Iron and AA were collected from human dermis by microdialysis and assessed by atomic absorption spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively.


RESULTS
The AD dermis demonstrated higher iron concentrations (44.3 +/- 4.6 microg/l) compared to controls (21.8 +/- 1.2 microg/l) as well as a significantly lower concentration of AA (46.7 +/- 0.6 vs. 176.8 +/- 14.5 microg/ml, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that iron and AA dermis levels could be indicators of inflammatory tissues and might be implicated in dermatological diseases such as AD.
Laboratoire d'Ingénierie et de Biologie Cutanées, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Place Saint Jacques, Besançon, France.
Nathalie
N
Leveque
Sophie
S
Robin
Patrice
P
Muret
Sophie
S
Mac-Mary
Safwat
S
Makki
Philippe
P
Humbert
D000328:Adult; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020405:Dermis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D015415:Biomarkers; D007501:Iron; D001205:Ascorbic Acid