Monteiro-Riviere, N.A. and A.O. Inman. Histochemical Distribution of Five Epidermal-Dermal Junction Epitopes in Porcine Skin Treated With Bis(2-Chloroethyl)Sulfide. The Toxicologist 1995. 15: 324.

sulfur mustard - 00505-60-2

Sulfur mustard (bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide, HD) is a potent cutaneous vesicant that causes separation of the epidermal-dermal junction (EDJ). Isolated perfused porcine skin flaps (IPPSF) were dosed topically with 0.2, 5.0 and 10.0 mg/ml HD or ethanol (control) for 8 hr (dose response study) and 10.0 mg/ml HD or ethanol for 1,3,5, and 8 hr (time response study). Successful EDJ mapping was carried out in normal pig skin (NPS), ethanol-treated IPPSFs, and HD-treated IPPSFs using antibodies to fibronectin, epidermolysis bulbosa acquisita (EBA), and GB3 (Nicein). Two mouse anti-human monoclonal antibodies, L3d and 19-DEJ-1 (Uncein), did not cross-react with the EDJ of the pig. Histochemical staining with fibronectin and GB3 was more discrete in NPS than in the IPPSF. No differences in staining were noted between the ethanol and nonblistered areas of the HD-treated IPPSFs. In HD-blistered areas, fibronectin and GB3 stained primarily the dermal interface with some fragment staining of the basal pole of the stratum basale cells, while EBA stained only the dermis. Mapping of these three epitopes further reinforces previous studies that the precise plane of EDJ separation in HD-treated skin occurs within the upper portion of the lamina lucida. The conservation of human epitopes in the EDJ of the pig further emphasizes the similarities between human skin and pig skin.