[The effect of some solvents on the epidermis (author's transl)]

The ultrastructure of epidermis pretreated with 0,1 N sofium hydroxide, ether-ethanol mixture and 0,5 M sodium thioglycolate was studied. Sodium hydroxide dissolves the keratohyalin granules and the inter fibrillar material in the keratin. It has no effect on the epidermal and keratin fibers and on the marginal dense band of the horny cells. It "produces" a keratin pattern in the psoriatic horny layer. After sodium thioglycolate treatment the keratohyalin disappears, the epidermal and keratin fibers show a periodicity and the cementing material in the horny cells is more opaque. After lipid extraction the structure of keratohyalin becomes inhomogenous. The effect is somewhat similar to that of sodium thioglycolate but there is no periodicity in the horny layer. The intercellular contact layers of desmosomes as well as the Selby-Odland bodies disappear after each kind of treatment, The different effect of sodium thioglycolate on the horny layer and on the keratohyalin implies that the material of the keratohyalin and of the cementing substance are not identical.