CONTRIBUTION TO STUDY OF INFESTATION OF HAIR WITH TINEA MYCETES

A study, with the aid of a scanning electron microscope, of the mode of entry, invasion and destruction of the hair by pathogenic mycetes yielded the following results: 1. The cuticle puts up a good resistance to invasion by the mycetes, which enter the hair only through tiny slits in its surface. 2. Not even in the next stage is the cuticle directly attacked by the parasite but is separated from the cortex in large flaps of almost normal appearance. 3. The cortex is severely altered by the mycetes, which attack the cementing substance between the columnar cells; the latter, although more or less extensively isolated one from another, still retain a virtually normal appearance for a time. 4. It is the isolation of the individual cells constituting the cortex that leads to the destruction and breakdown of the hair. It is therefore though that the pathogenic action of the mycetes on horny tissues is directed against the interstitial cementing substance rather than against keratin. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.