title: Weakness in intercellular association of keratinocytes in severely brittle nails.
abstract: The brittle fingernail is a common complaint, but the features of the cellular structure of the nail plate remain unclear. In this study, clipped nailplates from two persons with severely brittle nails, one female aged 26 years and one male aged 82 years, were observed by light and electron microscopy and compared with normal nail plates. Numerous cracks were observed in clipped brittle nails, but not in normal nails, on light microscopy. When the deep areas of nail plates of the clipped normal nails were observed by electron microscopy, intercellular boundaries appeared intermingled, and two thin, electron-dense layers were observed in a narrow intercellular gap. In contrast, in brittle nails, marked dilatation of intercellular spaces was frequently observed and electron-dense layers were either not seen or were disrupted. When clipped normal nails were dehydrated in a desiccation chamber, similar dilatations - though not so severe -were observed, without evident cracks. These results suggest that dilatation of the intercellular space between nail keratinocytes is correlated with brittle nails and that dehydration may result in such intercellular dilatation.
authors: Department of Food and Nutritional Environment, College of Human Life and Environment, Kinjo Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan.
authors: Kazuya
authors: K
authors: Kitamori
authors: Miya
authors: M
authors: Kobayashi
authors: Hirohiko
authors: H
authors: Akamatsu
authors: Arisa
authors: A
authors: Hirota-Sakashita
authors: Masashi
authors: M
authors: Kusubata
authors: Shinkichi
authors: S
authors: Irie
authors: Yoh-Ichi
authors: Y
authors: Koyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003890:Desiccation; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D009260:Nail Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D009262:Nails / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure