A Clinicopathological Study of Pemphigus in Eastern India with Special Reference to Direct Immunofluorescence

Background:Pemphigus is a group of chronic autoimmune vesico-bullous disorders in which the epidermis and the basement membrane zone are the focus of attack resulting in cutaneous and mucosal blister formation. Direct immunofluorescence (DIF) test is a very sensitive test for the diagnosisAim:To study the clinico histopathological patterns of pemphigus in eastern India. The study also aims to correlate DIF with clinical and histologic findings as well as severity of skin involvement [scoring systems].Results:In our study Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) was the predominant type with 32 cases followed by 8 cases of pemphigus foliaceus (PF) and a single case of IgA pemphigus. Mean age at presentation was late middle age. Majority of the patients, 26 (63.41%) initially had cutaneous involvement followed by mucosal involvement. In this study group 36 (87.80%) patients showed acantholytic cells on histopathological examination. Most patients of PV showed suprabasal blister 20 (62.50%) followed by intraspinous 5 (15.62%) and subcorneal 5 (15.62%) blister. In majority 28 (87.50%) of the PV patients IgG and C3 antibodies were deposited throughout the epidermis. The strength of antibody positivity was strong in most of the patients (71.87%). In cases of PF mostly IgG 6 (75%) antibodies were deposited in the upper epidermis. DIF intensity had poor correlation with disease activity/severity except in PF.Conclusion:Almost 85.36% cases of pemphigus were diagnosed clinicopathologically. But 6 cases couldn’t be diagnosed accurately on clinicopathological basis and in them DIF was confirmatory. Two cases of pure mucosal PV and 1 case of IgA pemphigus was confirmed by DIF. Two cases of bullous pemphigoid clinico-histologically mimicking PV were also excluded by DIF. So it appears from our study that DIF is confirmatory for diagnosis of pemphigus in all cases.     

Topical folinic acid enhances wound healing in rat model

Purpose

Folic acid is an essential vitamin participating in DNA synthesis and repair. Recently folic acid has been shown to stimulate DNA-repair capacity in dermal fibroblasts in response to injury. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of topical folinic acid, a 5-formyl derivative of tetrahydrofolic acid, on wound healing using rat wound model.