Abstract
The changes which take place in the dermis during skin treatment with oncogenic hydrocarbons and co-carcinogenic irritating substances were comparatively studied in various animal species (mouse, rabbit, rat, guinea-pig, hamster).
The alterations induced in the extracellular structures of the dermis by both oncogenic and irritating substances are qualitatively analogous in different animal species.
During the treatment the dermis collagen fibres are metachromatically stained; this peculiar behaviour takes place first in the upper layers, then in lower ones. Such staining properties precede the morphological changes of the fibres and become more marked with the progressing of these changes.
The morphologic and staining modifications of the fibres are proportional to the proliferation of the overlying epithelium, whether this be provoked by either oncogenic or irritating substances. These changes are more evident in correspondence to the areas of higher epidermic proliferation.
It is concluded that the same substance promotes in different animal species a different degree of dermal alterations, in relation to the different epidermic responses.
In the rabbit, besides the above described changes, the appearance of interfibrillar chromotrope substances during the treatment with oncogenic agents as observed in previous experiments, is confirmed; such appearance was not observed during the treatment with the irritating substances used.
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