Youngs R, Hawke M
Ear Pathology Research Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
J Otolaryngol. 1988 Dec;17(7):346-51.
This report documents the spatial architecture of corneocytes in the human tympanic membrane and external auditory meatus. Using specimens of tympanic membrane and meatal skin dissected from fresh cadaveric temporal bones, the structure of the stratum corneum was investigated by the techniques of scanning electron microscopy and silver staining of epidermal sheets. An ordered vertical architecture was demonstrated in the skin obtained from both bony and cartilaginous portions of the auditory meatus, whereas the corneocytes of the tympanic membrane were randomly distributed. This orderly cellular configuration is a feature of the non-migratory skin of lower mammals, and some areas of human skin, but has not been previously reported to occur in the human external auditory meatus. The implication of these findings in terms of lateral epithelial migration is that in the external auditory meatus in order to maintain a vertically aligned structure the stratum corneum must move as one layer, being passively transported above the deeper epidermal layers in which migration occurs. In the tympanic membrane, however, net epithelial dispersion occurs by random insertion of new cells into a pavement-like layer of corneocytes.
本报告记录了人鼓膜和外耳道中角质形成细胞的空间结构。利用从新鲜尸体颞骨上解剖下来的鼓膜和耳道皮肤标本，通过扫描电子显微镜技术和表皮片银染法研究了角质层的结构。在取自耳道骨部和软骨部的皮肤中均显示出有序的垂直结构，而鼓膜的角质形成细胞则随机分布。这种有序的细胞结构是低等哺乳动物非迁移性皮肤以及人类某些皮肤区域的特征，但此前尚未有报道称其存在于人类外耳道中。这些发现对于外侧上皮迁移的意义在于，在外耳道中，为了维持垂直排列的结构，角质层必须作为一个整体移动，被动地运输到发生迁移的较深表皮层上方。然而，在鼓膜中，上皮细胞通过新细胞随机插入到铺路石样的角质形成细胞层中而发生净分散。
