Comparison between the L-DOPA histofluorescence procedure and the indirect immunofluorescence with anti-T6 and -HLA-DR monoclonal antibodies in visualizing Langerhans cells of human epidermis

In order to assess the reliability of the L-DOPA histofluorescence (HF) procedure in visualizing the Langerhans cells (LC) of human epidermis, serial sections of human normal skin samples have been incubated with L-DOPA and alternatively processed for the L-DOPA HF and the indirect IF with anti-T6 and anti-HLA-DR monoclonal antibodies. Results demonstrated a good correlation of LC labelling; comparison between the number of L-DOPA positive (T6 positive and L-DOPA positive) HLA-DR positive dendritic cells did not show statistically significant differences. Therefore, the L-DOPA HF represents a valuable method for detecting LC in the human normal epidermis.