MELANIN-PRODUCING CELLS SEEN IN NEUROFIBROMATOUS LESIONS OF RECKLINGHAUSENS DISEASE - STUDY WITH FLUORESCENCE METHOD (FALCK AND HILLARP)

A 28 yr old female diagnosed as having a pachydermatocele type lesion of Recklinghausen''s disease was studied by means of a fluorescence method (Falck and Hillarp). Histopathological examination revealed that the lesion was composed of Ota''s nevus-like changes in the epidermis to the middermis and of proliferation of neurofibromatous tissues coexisting with melanin producing cells in the lower dermis to the subcutaneous adipose tissue. Melanin producing cells in the neurofibromatous lesion were shown by fluorescence method to have characteristics of nevus cells rather than of melanocytes. Innervation of monoaminergic and cholinergic nerves was not found in arteries in neurofibromas. The abnormalities of not only Schwann cells and melanocytes of neural crest origin but also of nevus cells and autonomic nerves of neural crest origin may be related to the pathogenesis of pachydermatocele type Recklinghausen''s disease.