An ultrastructural observation of intracytoplasmic desmosomes in Darier's disease.
In a typical case of Darier's disease, intracytoplasmic desmosomes, gap junctions and many vesicles were observed in the cytoplasm of epidermal keratinocytes. Intracytoplasmic desmosomes were found in the cytoplasm of the excessively keratinized cells, vacuolated cells and acantholytic cells. They were not associated with tonofilaments as much as with ordinal intercellular desmosome-tonofilament complexes, and some of them lacked a central strip and looked similar to the denatured intercellular desmosomes in the morphology of the abnormal keratinocytes of Darier's disease. These intracytoplasmic desmosomes were long and undulating and some of the showed a "tennis racket" image (Caputo). Furthermore, some were combined with the gap junction and the intermediate junction, forming a bounded vesicle in the cytoplasm.
Arai
H
H
Department of Dermatology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Asamizodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
Hori
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007644:Darier Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D003896:Desmosomes / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D011379:Prognosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure