[Heterogenicity of anti-basal membrane antibodies in pemphigoid. Research with the method of dermo-epidermal separation].

Twenty-one sera from subjects with bullous pemphigoid (BP), one from a subject with cicatricial pemphigoid (CP) and one from a subject with herpes gestationis (HG) were examined by indirect immunofluorescence with two substrata, intact normal human skin and human skin incubated in 1.O M NaC1 for 72 hours at 4 degrees C, that permit the dermal-epidermal separation at the lamina lucida layer. Eight of the 21 BP sera presented linear fluorescence in the dermal-epidermal junction of intact skin. On "separated" skin four of these eight sera showed fluorescence on the epidermal side, one on the dermal side, and one on both sides. The CP sera showed fluorescence at the dermal-epidermal junction on intact skin and on both sides on "separated" skin. The HG sera did not evidence fluorescent deposits with either of the two substrata. However, when examined by the complement fixation test, the HG sera showed linear fluorescence on the dermal-epidermal junction on intacty skin and a deposit on the epidermal side on "separated" skin.