NEW APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF PATHOLOGICAL STRATUM CORNEUM

Abstract

The etiology of psoriasis, one of the common skin diseases, remains the greatest unsolved problem to the investigator of dermatological diseases. (1, 2). Of particular interest in our investigations epidermis was the fact that the scales, when limited to the water soluble portion of the scale (3, 4, 5, 6), showed an abnormally high sulfhydryl content. It might be concluded that the abnormality resulted from a failure of oxidation to -S—S- during keratinization. Recently, some doubt has been thrown on the classical conception of normal keratinization. It is suggested that keratinization has not involved the SH groups by oxidation to -S—S. (3, 6). In this paper, the purposes of the investigation are to confirm the quantitative observation of the problem of the sulfhydryl content of abnormal stratum corneum, and to enlarge the research of the reductive decomposition of -S—S- bonds produced by the action of alkaline.