The Relationship between the Epidermal Melanocytes, Langerhans Cells and Epidermal Cambial Cells

Abstract

The epidermis of 60 mice ears is investigated in this study. The proliferative activity of the epidermal basal cells over 24h was observed to occur in two active phases (АP) and 2 passive phases (PP). The АP phase in turn consists of two subphases. Subphase 1, the longer of the two, is a proliferation of the descendants of the cambial cells; Subphase 2, is very short, involving a proliferation of the cambial cells. The proliferation of the latter occurs at the time of transition of the АP to PP; therefore, the number of melanocytes and Langerhans cells getting involved in the epidermal cambial cell division, increases in the epidermis. The number of Langerhans cells almost doubles compared with the melanocytes, as the latter are gradually transformed into epidermal basal cells.

Keywords

• cambial cells
• Langerhans cells
• melanocytes.