Abstract
The histochemical properties and structural characters of the dermis in different animal species subjected to skin treatment with 9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene have been studied. In all the animals the dermis shows new staining characters in relation to both Mallory stain and silver impregnation, undergoing a process of structural rearrangement which leads to a much more irregular and rarefied organization. Such alterations are progressing from the uppermost to the innermost layers and are proportional to the degree of hyperplasia of the overlying epithelium. At the onset of tumours in the rabbit, hamster, and rat, these alterations are progressive and extended to the whole dermis; in the rat and guinea-pig they soon enter a stationary stage where their limits are fixed by a barrier of normal dermis.
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