An ultrastructral study of epidermal dendritic cells in mole rats (Spalax leucodon)

1Mustafa YEL, and *2Huseyin Turker

Abstract

 

 

Accepted 16^th January, 2015

 

Dendritic cells (DC) are strong antigen secreting cells (ASC) collecting antigens by taking them from the tissues, carrying them to the lymph nodes and giving them to T cells in order that they could obtain immunity. They are called as melanocytes, Langerhans cells and epidermal dendritic cells in the literature of dermatology. These cells are placed as suprabasal in the mole rats dermis having a deep notched nucleus with a great number of mitochondria and small vesicles in their cytoplasm. Since they do not have tonofibrils and desmosomes in their structure, they can be separated very easily from keratinocytes and the other cells. These cells do not have any membrane contact with basal membranes and neighboring keratinocytes. Dendritic cells are surrounded by neighboring keratinocytes tightly, having a character of open cytoplasm (light cell). In the epidermis of mole rats, Langerhans cells and dendritic cells were rarely observed, while no melanocyte and melanin granules were encountered. In the current study, it was aimed to investigate the fine structure of dendritic cells met on the basal lamina of mole rat epidermis and to compare them with some other rodents samples.

 

Keywords: Epidermis, dendritic cell, ultrastructure, mole rats (Spalax leucodon)

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