ATPase and morphologic changes in Langerhans cells induced by epicutaneous application of a sensitizing dose of DNFB.

We have previously described an ATPase Langerhans cell (LC) staining technique allowing progression from light to electron microscope observation. Using this technique we have studied, following epicutaneous application of a sensitizing dose of a hapten, 2,4-dinitro-1-fluorobenzene (DNFB), the fate of the epidermal LC located in the sensitization zone. We wanted to know, under the light microscope, if the density and/or morphology of the LC are modified by such a treatment and, under the electron microscope, what are the ultrastructural changes accompanying the possible light microscope modifications. Under the light microscope, the observation of LC during the 5 d necessary for the development of contact sensitivity to DNFB shows that their number drops in the course of the first 24 h to normalize again 3 d later. Under the electron microscope, observations over the first 24 h revealed that LC remained in the epidermis, but were ATPase-negative. The disappearance of the membrane ATPase activity took place while the LC presented an increased number of coated pits, coated vesicles, endosomes, and lysosome organelles which characterize, at the ultrastructural level, the process of receptor-mediated endocytosis (RME). Following RME, many Birbeck granules (BG) appeared in the cytoplasm. Thus, epicutaneous application of DNFB leads to an endocytic activation of LC. However, the ligand(s) and/or the cell-surface components, which probably internalize during the RME process, remain unknown.