The Basement Membrane in Normal Skin and Split Skin Autografts in Man: An Electron Microscopic Study

Abstract

The electron microscopic appearances of the basement membrane have been examined in normal skin and in split skin autografts during healing. Structural alterations were observed in the basement membrane and its thickness was measured. Even during the first days after the transplantation changes such as thickening and duplication were seen in the dermis. In normal skin there was a large variation in the thickness of the basement membrane within the individual specimens; there was no clear difference between the sexes, age groups or sites. In the split-skin grafts the membrane varied greatly in thickness during the course of healing. The variations in thickness were evidently related to the plasmatic circulation during the first week after transplantation, and to the reactive hyperaemia during the second and third weeks. The reaction of the basement membrane could be immunologic or depending on a repopulation in the basal cells.