Micro-determination of cyclic AMP levels in human epidermis, dermis and haif follicles

In order to study the biological and possible pathological roles of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) in the skin, it is mandatory to measure cyclic AMP in 50-100 mug of microdissected epidermis, dermis or appendages. In the present study, we offer a method of extracting cyclic AMP from less than 100 mug of tissue, removing contaminating nucleotides and scaling down Gilman's method to fit the analysis of small amounts of tissue. Cyclic AMP levels in the dermis, epidermis, and hair follicles (bulbs) were approximately 1, 2 and 3-5 pmols/mug dry weight tissue respectively. This procedure is applicable to the measurement of cyclic AMP levels in limited foci of healthy or diseased skin.