Ultrastructural studies of allergic contact dermatitis in man. Infiltrating cells at the earliest phase of spongiotic bulla formation.

The kind and fine structure of mononuclear cells appearing in the epidermis at about 6 h of allergic contact dermatitis were examined by electron microscopy. They were monocytes and lymphocytes, the number being about equal. The ultrastructure of monocytes was that described for normal ones in blood, and apparently actively moving, streching the intercellular connections of the keratinocytes. Lymphocytes displayed a round or oval nucleus with some electron-dense cytoplasm which contained ribosomes and polysomes but only occasional mitochondria and Golgi complexes.