Psoriasis Vulgaris Lesions At The Calcitonin Gene-related Peptide, Substance P Expression And Nerve Fibers And Langerhans Cells Relationship Between The Morphological Study

ObjectivesTo examine the expression of CGRP and SP in psoriatic lesional skin, to detect and quantify the intraepidermal nerve fibers, and to observe and quantify the contact between intraepidermal nerve fibers and GDI a⁺ Langerhans cells.Methods32 biopsies of lesional skin of patients with psoriasis vulgaris were employed in this study. 17 biopsies of healthy skin served as normal controls.Immunohistochemical LAB - SA method ( Labeled Avidin -Biotin Streptavidin -HRP/AP conjugated technique) , double labeled immunofluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscope were em-ployed in the experiments.Wilcoxon rank sum test and Student's t - test were employed fof statistical analysis.ResultsExpression of CGRPStaining with intensity from ++ to +++ was observed in all pso-riatic lesional skin, mainly in epidermal dendritic cells, fibrous mate-rials and papillary dermis. Staining with intensity from + to ++ +was observed in partial (11/17) normal controls. There was a signifi-cant difference between psoriasis lesions and normal controls (T =91, p<0.01).Expression of SPPositive staining was detected in psoriatic lesional epidermis and parts of dermis in all the samples,with intensity from + to +++. Stai-ning with intensity from + to ++ was also observed in partial (137 17 ) normal controls. There was a significant difference between psori-atic lesions and normal controls ( T = 70, p < 0.01).Quantification of intraepidermal, papillary dermal nerve fi-bers: The length of nerve fibers in psoriatic lesional skin was much longer than that in normal controls ( p <0.001) .Quantification of contact between nerve fibers and Langer-hans cells: The quantity of the contact between intraepidermal nerve fibers and Langerhans cells in psoriatic lesional skin was much higher than that in normal control ( p < 0.01) .ConclusionsThere was a significant overexpression of CGRP and SP in psori-atic lesional skin. There was a higher amount of intraepidermal and papillary dermal nerve fibers in psoriatic lesional skin. The contact between Langerhans cells and intraepidermal nerves in psoriatic le-sional skin was significantly increased in psoriatic lesional skin.