Moll I, Zieger W, Schmelz M
Department of Dermatology, Mannheim Medical School, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany.
Arch Dermatol Res. 1996 Apr;288(4):184-7. doi: 10.1007/BF02505222.
The fetal development of Merkel cells-neuroendocrine cells of the skin - has been a matter of debate for a long time. Recent results have helped to confirm their intraepidermal development in humans. Simple epithelial cytokeratins (CK) nos. 8, 18, 19 and 20 are well established markers at the light microscopic level. These cells could be detected from fetal week 8 within the epidermis with an enormous increase during the following weeks. This gives rise to the question as to whether Merkel cells are undergoing mitoses or whether they are derived from basal keratinocytes. We studied fetal and adult skin using antibodies to simple epithelial CK and to Ki67, a human nuclear cell proliferation-associated antigen in an attempt to answer these questions. In human adult and fetal skin of various stages we could not detect any Merkel cells undergoing cell division. These results suggest that Merkel cells are postmitotic cells to be renewed from undifferentiated keratinocytes with stem cell characteristics.
皮肤默克尔细胞 - 神经内分泌细胞的胎儿发育长期以来一直是一个有争议的问题。最近的研究结果有助于证实它们在人类表皮内的发育。简单上皮细胞角蛋白（CK）8、18、19和20号是光镜水平上公认的标志物。这些细胞在胎儿第8周时可在表皮内检测到，在接下来的几周内数量大幅增加。这就引发了一个问题，即默克尔细胞是正在进行有丝分裂，还是源自基底角质形成细胞。我们使用针对简单上皮CK和Ki67（一种与人类核细胞增殖相关的抗原）的抗体研究了胎儿和成人皮肤，试图回答这些问题。在不同阶段的人类成人和胎儿皮肤中，我们未检测到任何正在进行细胞分裂的默克尔细胞。这些结果表明，默克尔细胞是有丝分裂后细胞，由具有干细胞特征的未分化角质形成细胞更新而来。
