HISTOENZYMOLOGICAL STUDY OF DERMAL VESSELS IN NORMAL AND PATHOLOGICAL SKIN

Summary— Twenty specimens of normal skin, taken from 8 different areas and 61 specimens from patients suffering from psoriasis, scleroderma (sclerodactyly), angiomas, basal-cell and squamous-cell carcinomas were studied histochemically for 13 enzyme activities.
Alkaline phosphatase (AP) and adenosine triphosphatases are mainly useful in revealing the vascular pattern of the dermis, ATP'ases showing activity in larger vessels than AP. On the other hand, some metabolic changes in the vascular wall may be indicated by variations in AP and ATP'ase activities.
The various other enzyme activities deserve studying for their metabolic significance. While in normal skin vessels, dehydrogenases of the glycolytic pathway are the most active, in pathological conditions like psoriasis, and carcinomas, other activities appear stronger: G6P-DH, aconitase and IC-DH.