References: Hair growth and hair loss
Br J Dermatol. 1997 Mar;136(3):319-25.
Differential T-cell reactivity to the round and oval forms of Pityrosporum in the skin of patients with psoriasis.
Baker BS, Powles A, Garioch JJ, Hardman C, Fry L.
Department of Dermatology, St Mary's Hospital, London, U.K.
Pityrosporum yeasts have been implicated as a trigger for the initiation of scalp lesions in psoriasis. To determine whether Pityrosporum-reactive T cells are present in lesional psoriatic skin. T-cell lines (TCL) were cultured from the scalps of nine patients with psoriasis and seven with alopecia areata (disease controls), and from non-scalp lesions from six of the psoriatic patients. The psoriatic skin TCL were stained for CD3, CD4, CD8 and TCR alpha beta expression and tested in a proliferation assay with Candida albicans and purified protein derivative (PPD), and cytoplasmic and cell-wall extracts of P. ovale (oval) and P. orbiculare (round). The proliferative responses of corresponding peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were also determined. All the PBMC samples responded to the Pityrosporum extracts to variable extents, but no significant difference in the response of the group to the two different forms of yeast was observed. The response was mediated by CD4+ T cells and inhibited by the addition of anti-HLA-DR antibody. In addition, all nine psoriatic scalp TCL, which were predominantly CD3+, CD4+ TCR alpha beta(+), responded to the cytoplasmic, and five of nine TCL to the cell-wall extract of P. orbiculare. In contrast, only three of the nine TCL proliferated to either extract of P. ovale. This difference was significant for both the cytoplasmic (P < 0.01) and cell wall (P = 0.01) extracts. Similarly, the TCL cultured from non-scalp psoriatic lesions also showed a more marked response to the P. orbiculare extracts (P = 0.05). Furthermore, four of seven and two of seven scalp TCL from lesions of alopecia areata responded to the P. orbiculare and P. ovale extracts, respectively; these responses did not differ significantly from those of the psoriatic scalp TCL. None of the skin TCL responded to either Candida albicans or PPD. These findings demonstrate that T cells with differential reactivity to the round and oval forms of Pityrosporum are present in, but are not specific for, psoriatic skin lesions. A role for these cells in the pathogenesis of psoriasis remains speculative.
online pharmacy ref. source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9115908&dopt=Abstract
Pigment Cell Res. 1996 Dec;9(6):304-10.
Different populations of melanocytes are present in hair follicles and epidermis.
Tobin DJ, Bystryn JC.
Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, New York University Medical School, New York, USA.
Melanocytes in human skin reside both in the epidermis and in the matrix and outer root sheath of anagen hair follicles. Comparative study of melanocytes in these different locations has been difficult as hair follicle melanocytes could not be cultured . In this study we used a recently described method of growing hair follicle melanocytes to characterize and compare hair follicle and epidermal melanocytes in the scalp of the same individual. Three morphologically and antigenically distinct types of melanocytes were observed in primary culture. These included (1) moderately pigmented and polydendritic melanocytes derived from epidermis; (2) small, bipolar, amelanotic melanocytes; and (3) large, intensely pigmented melanocytes; the latter two were derived from hair follicles. The three sub-populations of cells all reacted with melanocyte-specific monoclonal antibody. Epidermal and amelanotic hair follicle melanocytes proliferated well in culture, whereas the intensely pigmented hair follicle melanocytes did not. Amelanotic hair follicle melanocytes differed from epidermal melanocytes in being less differentiated, and they expressed less mature melanosome antigens. In addition, hair follicle melanocytes expressed some antigens associated with alopecia areata, but not antigens associated with vitiligo, whereas the reverse was true for epidermal melanocytes. Thus antigenically different populations of melanocytes are present in epidermis and hair follicle. This could account for the preferential destruction of hair follicle melanocytes in alopecia areata and of epidermal melanocytes in vitiligo.
online pharmacy ref. source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9125754&dopt=Abstract
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1997 May;36(5):678-84.
Children with alopecia areata: psychiatric symptomatology and life events.
Liakopoulou M, Alifieraki T, Katideniou A, Kakourou T, Tselalidou E, Tsiantis J, Stratigos J.
Athens University Medical School, Greece.
OBJECTIVES: To examine the nature of psychopathology of children with alopecia areata (AA) and to investigate the frequency and quality of life events in the year before AA developed in comparison with a control group. METHOD: Thirty-three subjects with AA, mean age 10.5 +/- 0.3 years, were compared with 30 controls who visited a pediatrician for a mild condition. In addition, 16 preschool children with AA were compared with 17 preschool children who visited the pediatrician for a mild condition. The following measures were used: Child Psychiatric Interview, Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (CMAS), Life Events Scale for Children, and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). RESULTS: On the CBCL, children with AA had more psychological problems, in total, than controls, and in particular, they were more anxious or depressed, withdrawn, aggressive, and delinquent. They also had more somatic problems as well as problems in social relations and in attention. Girls with AA seem to have been affected more in dimensions of total problems, anxiety/depression, and internalizing/externalizing syndromes. In terms of anxiety (CMAS), more children with AA than controls seemed to worry and to have difficulties in concentration and physiological symptoms of anxiety. In the Child Psychiatric Interview, all children with AA exhibited symptomatology of anxiety or depression or both, usually of mild or moderate nature. Major depression was not detected through the CDI. Fewer children with AA had positive life events the year before AA than controls in a similar time period. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with controls, children with AA had more psychiatric symptoms in general and symptoms of anxiety or depression, or both, in particular. There is also evidence that lack of positive life events in the prealopecia period played a role in their lives. Psychiatric assessment, and if necessary treatment, is warranted for all children with this condition.
online pharmacy ref. source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9136503&dopt=Abstract
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