THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF IN VIVO MELANOCYTES

为了解人表皮黑色素细胞在体内的三维分布和细胞结构，利用计算机对正常皮肤标本进行了立体和立体研究。固定后，接受DOPA -前黑素体反应。用戊二醛和四氧化锇后固定，脱水后包埋于Epon中。每个标本的连续切片在超微切片机中制作，并用甲苯胺蓝染色。多巴-前黑素体反应使表皮黑素细胞染成深褐色。利用计算机立体成像系统（Cosmozone 2SA, Nikon, Tokyo），从黑素细胞的连续二维图像中重建其细胞结构的三维图像。表皮黑色素细胞立体分布在波浪状表皮基底膜上；他们中的一些人经常聚会。黑素细胞呈球形细胞体，呈细长突起，而表皮基底角化细胞呈椭球状细胞体。通过立体测量，黑素细胞比基底角质形成细胞具有更大的细胞质和更小的核体积。这些结果对进一步开展各种正常或异常黑素细胞的体视学研究具有重要意义。

To know the three-dimensional distribution and cell structure of human epidermal melanocytes in vivo, normal skin specimens were studied with newly developed stereographic and stereometric method using computer. After fixation, the specimens were received dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA)-premelanosome reaction. They were post- fixed with glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide, dehydrated, and embedded in Epon. Serial sections of each specimen were made in an ultramicrotome and stained with toluidine blue. Epidermal melanocytes were stained dark brown by the DOPA-premelanosome reaction. From the serial two-dimensional figures of the melanocytes, three-dimensional images of their cell structures were reconstructed using a computer- stereography system (Cosmozone 2SA, Nikon, Tokyo). The epidermal melanocytes stereographically showed an uneven distribution on a waving epidermal basement membrane; some of them often gathered. The melanocytes showed a spherical cell body extending several thin processes, whereas epidermal basal keratinocytes showed an ellipsoidal cell body. By stereometry, the melanocytes had significantly larger cytoplasm and a smaller nucleus in volumes than those of the basal keratinocytes. These results may be very important for further stereological studies on various kinds of normal or abnormal melanocytes.