The Expression And Significance Of GR And MT In Hair Follicle In Physiological And Pathological States

Objectives: To detect the expression of GR-α, GR-βand MT1 in healthy scalp and the lesions of alopecia areata and scalp DLE through immunohistochemistry, to explore the influence of them in growth of follicles and explain the effect and significance in relevant diseases.Methods: The lesion groups include 15 patients with alopecia areata and 14 patients with scalp DLE. The healthy control group came from 16 healthy adult's scalp.All lesion samples were derived from the dermatology department of the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Medical University from January 2000 to October 2006, and they were all made pathological diagnosis and definite clinical diagnosis. All healthy samples were superfluous skin obtained by operation and were followed the standard processing to make paraffin sections.The distribution and intensity of expression of GR and MT1 in the epidermis and follicle of the samples from group of AA, group of DLE and the healthy contral group were detected by immunohistochemical SP method.Results: 1 The distribution of GR and MT1 expression: The distribution of GR-αin AA group, DLE group and healthy control group were not fully alike. In group of healthy control , GR-αstaining markedly presented in the cells of stratum basalum and tapered little by little from stratum spinosum to stratum basalum, moreover the staining was also observed in follicles, sebaceous glands and sweat glands. The group of AA expressed higher than healthy control group, the DLE group was also higher than healthy control group. The difference of the expression of GR-αin the group of AA was significantly higher than the group of healthy control, and so did the group of DLE, but there was little difference between groups of AA and DLE. The expression of the cells of follicles in anagen and catagen of AA group and DLE group were higher than healthy control group.GR-βmainly expressed in the cells of stratum basalum. The difference of the GR-βstaining in three groups was no significant. The distribution of MT1 in groups of AA, DLE and healthy control were not fully alike. In healthy control group MT1 staining mainly presented in the cellular membrane and cytolymph of the epidermal cells. The inflammatory cells scatter around the blood vessel of the follicle and the cells in the glandulae sebaceae and sweat glands also expressed clearly. In the group of AA and DLE, the expression of MT1 had close relation with inflammatory cells. 2 The intensity of the GR expression in the epidermis and follicles: The intensity of GR-αexpression in the epidermis of the samples from three groups was not fully alike. The group of AA expressed higher than healthy control group significantly(P<0.01), DLE group was also higher than healthy control group significantly(P<0.01). But there was little difference between groups of AA and DLE (P>0.05). In anagen and catagen of the follicles the group of AA expressed higher than healthy control group significantly(P<0.05),and so did DLE group.The difference between groups of AA and DLE in anagen and catagen of follicles was no significant. The difference of GR-βexpression in the epidermis in three groups was no significant(P>0.05).The intensity of MT1 in groups of AA, DLE and healthy control were not fully alike. The group of AA expressed higher than healthy control group significantly(P<0.01), DLE group was also higher than healthy control group significantly(P<0.01). But there was little difference between groups of AA and DLE (P>0.05). 3 The quantity of GR expression in the epidermis and inflammatory cells: The quantity of GR-αexpression in epidermis of the samples from three groups was not fully alike. The average positive cell ration of GR-αexpression was 40.75±17.85% in AA group, 17.84±5.67% in healthy control group and 35.76±10.64% in DLE group. The group of AA expressed less than than healthy control group significantly(P<0.01), DLE group was also less than healthy scalp significantly(P<0.01). But there was little difference between groups of AA and DLE (P>0.05).The average positive cell ration of GR-αexpression in anagen was 74.96±8.05% in AA group, 29.83±12.42% in healthy control group and 57.08±23.07% in DLE group. In catagen the ration was 69.27±7.88%in healthy control group, l87.15±6.62% in AA group and 77.28±8.06%in DLE group. In anagen of follicles the group of AA expressed higher than healthy control group significantly(P<0.05), DLE group was also higher than healthy control group significantly(P<0.05). In catagen of follicles the group of AA expressed higher than healthy control group significantly(P<0.01), DLE group was also higher than healthy control group significantly(P < 0.01). But there was little difference between groups of AA and DLE in anagen and catagen of follicles(P>0.05).The difference of GR-βexpression in epidermis in three groups was no significant(P>0.05). The quantity of MT1 in groups of AA, DLE and healthy control were not fully alike. The average positive cell ration of GR-αexpression was 24.51±11.90%in AA group expressed higher than 52.56±13.64% in healthy control(P<0.01). The ration in the group of DLE was 25.22±8.46% higher than healthy control group(P<0.01).The quantity of MT1 in inflammatory cell scatter around the blood vessel of follicles in groups of AA, DLE and healthy control were not fully alike. Compare with the ration of healthy control group 21.57±7.43%,the group of AA and DLE expressed higher than it(P<0.05).The difference between AA group and DLE group was significant(P<0.05).Conclusions:1 The expression of GR-αin epidermis of samples, hinted that GR-αplay an important role not only in healthy hair growth but also in the occurrence of AA and DLE. 2 The high expression of GR-αin anagen and catagen of follicles in samples may be related with destroy of the follicles in AA and DLE.3 The expression of GR-αin AA group and DLE group was higher than that of the healthy control group, however GR-βexpressed no significant difference in three samples, provide evidence for the clinical treatment with glucocorticoid in AA and DLE.4 MT1 were mainly expressed in the cellular membrane and cytolymph of epidermis, and over expressed in the glandulae sebaceae and sweat glands and the inflammatory cells scatter around the blood vessel of follicles, which hinted MT1 is important for the growth of healthy hair follicle.5 The weak expression of MT1 in the epidermis and hair follicles of scalp, show that the change of MT1 affects the occurrence of AA and DLE. And the different proportions of MT1 in the flammatory cells in three groups tell us MT1 may be related with the release of some inflammatory faotors. Accordingly, we conclude melatonin possibly take part in the occurrence of these alopecic diseases through MT1.