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Epidermal differentiation in normal and growth-retarded infants: studies in two animal models and in human babies
Insights
Prenatal growth restriction impacts epidermal development differently across species. Human and rat fetuses showed reduced epidermal growth, while piglets exhibited abnormal keratinization resembling parakeratosis.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Dermatology
- Comparative Physiology
Background:
- Prenatal growth retardation, or small-for-dates, can affect fetal development.
- Epidermal growth and keratinization are crucial for skin barrier function.
- Species-specific differences in skin development are known.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of prenatal growth retardation on epidermal growth and keratinization.
- To compare these effects across human, pig, and rat models.
- To understand species-specific responses to growth restriction.
Main Methods:
- Studied small-for-dates human babies.
- Examined runt piglets (small-for-dates).
- Analyzed rat fetuses from protein-deprived mothers.
Main Results:
- Human and rat fetuses with growth retardation had reduced epidermal growth but normal differentiation.
- Piglets with growth retardation showed thicker epidermis with parakeratosis (nucleated cells in stratum corneum).
- Parakeratosis was less common in normal-weight piglets, suggesting a species-specific response.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal growth restriction affects epidermal development differently in humans/rats versus pigs.
- Piglet epidermis exhibits unique changes, including parakeratosis, possibly due to higher keratinization rates.
- These perinatal skin differences may predict later tissue dissimilarities.
Abstract:
The influence of prenatal growth retardation on epidermal growth and keratinization was studied in small-for-dates human babies, runt piglets and in rat fetuses subject to maternal protein deprivation. In the human babies and rat fetuses growth retardation was associated with reduced epidermal growth but normal patterns of differentiation were present. Thus, epidermal thickness was less and keratinizing zones narrower than seen in normal weight individuals. In the runt (small-for-dates) piglet, epidermal development differed from that seen in normal weight piglets of the same gestational age and from that seen in the human and rat. The epidermis was thicker with a negligible stratum granulosum and with the stratum corneum containing nucleated cells, a condition resembling 'parakeratosis'. This pattern was less often seen in normal weight piglets. Differences between the skins of the three speecies studied at a perinatal stage may be related to clear dissimilarities which exist in the tissues later. Parakeratosis as a transitory phase in the development of pig skin is probably related to a higher rate of epidermal keratinization in this species than occurs in either human babies or rat fetuses.