scholarly journals Localized cutaneous argyria: a new observation

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-32
Author(s):  
Selma El Kadiri ◽  
Hanane Baybay

A 27-year-old female, a radiotherapy technician, was referred to our consultation with a localized gray pigmentation of the perinasal area. The condition had been asymptomatic for its entire duration of 2 years. A dermatological examination found a localized bluish-gray pigmentation in the perinasal area. Dermoscopy revealed an annular bluish-gray patch. Her occupation involved the manufacture and micromanipulation of machines, which required handling pure iron, nickel, copper, and silver with bare hands. She also reported a tic of flaring the nose. A skin biopsy was performed and histology revealed deposits of fine granules in the basal cell layer of eccrine sweat glands and along the elastic fibers of the superficial dermis, conforming with the diagnosis of argyria. The patient was given laser Q-switching treatment and showed a measurable improvement. This case studies a currently rare dermatological curiosity. Argyria is a disease caused by chronic absorption of silver-rich materials. This is the first description of argyria following the manipulation of radiopaque caches with a tic of flaring the nose.

Author(s):  
J. V. Briggman ◽  
J. Bigelow ◽  
H. Bank ◽  
S. S. Spicer

The prevalence of strands shown by freeze-fracture in the zonula occludens of junctional complexes is thought to correspond closely with the transepi-thelial electrical resistance and with the tightness of the junction and its obstruction to paracellular flow.1 The complexity of the network of junc¬tional complex strands does not appear invariably related to the degree of tightness of the junction, however, as rabbit ileal junctions have a complex network of strands and are permeable to lanthanum. In human eccrine sweat glands the extent of paracellular relative to transcellular flow remains unknown, both for secretion of the isotonic precursor fluid by the coil and for resorption of a hypertonic solution by the duct. The studies reported here undertook, therefore, to determine with the freeze-fracture technique the complexity of the network of ridges in the junctional complexes between cells in the secretory coil and the sweat ducts. Glands from a patient with cystic fibrosis were also examined because an alteration in junctional strands could underlie the decreased Na+ resorption by sweat ducts in this disease. Freeze-fracture replicas were prepared by standard procedures on isolated coil and duct segments of human sweat glands. Junctional complexes between clear cells, between dark cells and between clear and dark cells on the main lumen, and between clear cells on intercellular canaliculi of the coil con¬tained abundant anastomosing closely spaced strands averaging 6.4 + 0.7 (mean + SE) and 9.0 +0.5 (Fig. 1) per complex, respectively. Thus, the junctions in the intercellular canaliculi of the coil appeared comparable in complexity to those of tight epithlia. Occasional junctions exhibited, in addition, 2 to 5 widely spaced anastomosing strands in a very close network basal to the compact network. The fewer junctional complexes observed thus far between the superficial duct cells consisted on the average of 6 strands arranged in a close network and 1 to 4 underlying strands that lay widely separated from one another (Fig. 2). The duct epitelium would, thus, be judged slightly more "leaky" than the coil. Infrequent junctional complexes observed to date in the secretory coil segment of a cystic fibrosis specimen disclosed rela¬tively few closely crowded strands.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-188
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Ingravallo ◽  
Francesco Mazzotta ◽  
Leonardo Resta ◽  
Sara Sablone ◽  
Gerardo Cazzato ◽  
...  

Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is associated with various clinical manifestations, including skin lesions. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down period numerous chilblain-like lesions, mainly located on the feet, were observed in adolescents. The latter were often asymptomatic or associated with very mild respiratory symptoms. Here, we report three cases of acral nodular lesions in SARS-CoV-2 swab-negative adolescents with histological findings of chronic immune-mediated inflammation and immunohistochemical evidence of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoproteins in endothelial cells and eccrine sweat glands. In one of these cases, the virus presence was confirmed by electron microscopy.


Author(s):  
Leslie Baumann ◽  
Eric F Bernstein ◽  
Anthony S Weiss ◽  
Damien Bates ◽  
Shannon Humphrey ◽  
...  

Abstract Elastin is the main component of elastic fibers, which provide stretch, recoil, and elasticity to the skin. Normal levels of elastic fiber production, organization, and integration with other cutaneous extracellular matrix proteins, proteoglycans, and glycosaminoglycans are integral to maintaining healthy skin structure, function, and youthful appearance. Although elastin has very low turnover, its production decreases after individuals reach maturity and it is susceptible to damage from many factors. With advancing age and exposure to environmental insults, elastic fibers degrade. This degradation contributes to the loss of the skin’s structural integrity; combined with subcutaneous fat loss, this results in looser, sagging skin, causing undesirable changes in appearance. The most dramatic changes occur in chronically sun-exposed skin, which displays sharply altered amounts and arrangements of cutaneous elastic fibers, decreased fine elastic fibers in the superficial dermis connecting to the epidermis, and replacement of the normal collagen-rich superficial dermis with abnormal clumps of solar elastosis material. Disruption of elastic fiber networks also leads to undesirable characteristics in wound healing, and the worsening structure and appearance of scars and stretch marks. Identifying ways to replenish elastin and elastic fibers should improve the skin’s appearance, texture, resiliency, and wound-healing capabilities. However, few therapies are capable of repairing elastic fibers or substantially reorganizing the elastin/microfibril network. This review describes the clinical relevance of elastin in the context of the structure and function of healthy and aging skin, wound healing, and scars and introduces new approaches being developed to target elastin production and elastic fiber formation.


1970 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Becky B. Johnson ◽  
Robert E. Johnson

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 548-550
Author(s):  
Y. Saito ◽  
Y. Shimomura ◽  
R. Abe

1981 ◽  
Vol 240 (1) ◽  
pp. R44-R51 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Sato ◽  
F. Sato

Pharmacologic responsiveness of the eccrine sweat gland has never been studied under well-defined in vitro experimental conditions. Using isolated cannulated single monkey palm eccrine sweat glands, the dose response to both cholinergic and alpha- and beta-adrenergic agents and the effects of various antagonists on agonists were studied. The maximal sweat rate was highest after stimulation with cholinergic agonists, was lower with the beta-adrenergic agonist, and was least with the alpha-adrenergic agonist. Each secretory response was inhibited by its specific antagonist. Attempts to demonstrate the spare receptor, if any, by means of preincubation of the glands with N-(2-chlorethyl)dibenzylamine (Dibenamine) were unsuccessful. From the hyperbolic dose-response curves the values for KA and KB, dissociation constants for agonists and antagonists, respectively, were thus tentatively estimated according to Clark's classical receptor theory. Schild plots for each agonist-antagonist interaction produced straight lines with slopes of near unity, indicating the adequacy of the methodology. It was concluded that the isolated eccrine sweat glands retain their pharmacologic viability in vitro and show responsiveness to cholinergic as well as both alpha- and beta-adrenergic stimulations.


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