Abstract
The behaviour of aged skin transplanted onto nude mice was investigated to determine whether the skin maintains its histological features. Split-thickness skin grafts obtained from the unexposed skin on the thighs of healthy aged and young volunteers were grafted onto nude mice. A significant difference between the mean thickness of young versus aged epidermis was noted before transplantation (P < 0.001). The epidermis of aged and young skin showed an increase in thickness following engraftment with a mean increase in epidermal thickness of 18.8% in the young (P < 0.01) and 142.5% in aged skin (P < 0.001). The number of blood vessels in the aged skin was significantly lower than in the young skin, but a remarkable increase was found post-transplantation. These findings indicate that part of the typical histological changes of unexposed aged skin are reversible.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 168-171 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | British Journal of Dermatology |
Volume | 124 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1991 |
Externally published | Yes |