Cruchley A T, Williams D M, Farthing P M, Speight P M, Lesch C A, Squier C A
Joint Department of Oral Pathology, London Hospital Medical College, England.
J Oral Pathol Med. 1994 Feb;23(2):55-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0714.1994.tb00256.x.
The immune function of skin has been studied extensively and it has been suggested that epidermal Langerhans cell (LC) density and function decreases with increasing age. Little is known, however, about the effect of age on oral mucosal LC. Cryostat sections from biopsies of buccal mucosa, lip, hard palate, lateral border of tongue, floor of mouth and abdominal skin, obtained from 91 subjects (aged 16-96 yr), were reacted immunocytochemically with a monoclonal antibody against CD1a and then LC density was expressed as LC/mm epithelial surface length. No significant effect of age on mucosal or skin LC density was found, whilst a history of smoking was associated with an increase in LC density in lateral border of tongue and in biopsies of labial mucosa taken from men (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between LC density in men and women in oral mucosa. Oral mucosal LC may therefore form a relatively stable population in the adult and thus the increased incidence of mucosal disease in the elderly may be the result of subtle changes in cell mediated immune function rather than changes in LC density.
皮肤的免疫功能已得到广泛研究，有研究表明，随着年龄增长，表皮朗格汉斯细胞（LC）的密度和功能会下降。然而，关于年龄对口腔黏膜LC的影响却知之甚少。从91名受试者（年龄在16 - 96岁之间）获取的颊黏膜、唇部、硬腭、舌外侧缘、口底及腹部皮肤活检的冰冻切片，用抗CD1a单克隆抗体进行免疫细胞化学反应，然后将LC密度表示为每毫米上皮表面长度的LC数量。未发现年龄对黏膜或皮肤LC密度有显著影响，而吸烟史与男性舌外侧缘及唇黏膜活检中LC密度增加有关（P < 0.05）。口腔黏膜中男性和女性的LC密度无显著差异。因此，口腔黏膜LC在成年人中可能构成一个相对稳定的群体，老年人黏膜疾病发病率增加可能是细胞介导免疫功能细微变化的结果，而非LC密度变化所致。
