A LIGHT and ELECTRON MICROSCOPICAL STUDY OF COLLAGEN DEGENERATION

1. an electron microscopical study of skin with severe collagen degeneration showed that there are changes in elastic, collagen and reticular fibres which lead to a great reduction in the amount of organized fibrous tissue present in the dermis. 2. the collagen fibrils, which are normally formed by tightly packed, strictly aligned filaments, were degraded with the release of the filaments to form disorientated masses. 3. it is suggested that the material which stains like elastin in the dermis is derived from both elastin and collagen. there is hypertrophy and dispersion of elastic fibres, which have degraded collagen added to their surface. there is also a change of narrow bands of the degraded collagen masses to a material looking like elastin. 4. the walls of the small blood‐vessels are profoundly altered, and it is considered that these changes would alter their permeability and therefore affect the nutrition of the overlying epidermis. Copyrigh