Increase in types IV and VI collagen in cherry haemangiomas

The capillaries in cherry haemangiomas show perivascular hyalinized sheaths. In order to clarify the nature of this sheath material, the extracellular matrix of cherry haemangiomas from 20 normal volunteers (age range 30-64 years) was investigated using immunohistochemical and electronmicroscopical methods. Antibodies against collagen types III, IV and VI and laminin were used. Hyaluronic acid was visualized using the hyaluronic acid binding region of the cartilage proteoglycan as ligand. Electronmicroscopically, the sheaths contained multilaminated basement membrane-like material, collagen fibres 20-25 nm thick with a periodicity of 67 nm and broad-banded aggregates with a periodicity of 100 nm (zebra bodies or fibrous long-spacing fibres). Immunohistochemically, type IV collagen was stained throughout the whole sheath material. Staining for laminin was more confined to the endothelial side of the sheath. Intense staining for type III collagen and hyaluronic acid was found in the connective tissue of the subpapillary layer and between the cherry haemangioma capillaries. Much weaker staining for type III collagen and no staining for hyaluronic acid were found invariably in an area 4-10 microns thick directly around the capillaries. Both sheath material and intercapillary connective tissue of the haemangiomas showed pronounced staining for collagen type VI. Immunogold staining revealed that type VI collagen was localized to microfibrils 5-6 nm thick and to the broad-banded aggregates with 100 nm periodicity. These findings further underline the assumption that the broad-banded aggregates consist of type VI collagen.