Two-photon, excitation fluorescent microscopy featuring autofluorescence or immunofluorescence, combined with optical clearance using a transparency-enhancing technique, allows deep imaging of three-dimensional (3D) skin structures. However, it remains difficult to obtain high-quality images of individual cells or 3D structures. We combined a new dye with a transparency-enhancing technology and performed high-quality structural analysis of human epidermal structures, especially the acrosyringium. Human fingertip skin samples were collected, formalin-fixed, embedded in both frozen and paraffin blocks, sliced, stained with propidium iodide, optically cleared using a transparency-enhancing technique, and stained with a new fluorescent, solvatochromic pyrene probe. Microscopy revealed fine skin features and detailed epidermal structures including the stratum corneum (horny layer), keratinocytes, eccrine sweat glands, and peripheral nerves. Three-dimensional reconstruction of an entire acrosyringium was possible in one sample. This new fluorescence microscopy technique yields high-quality epidermal images and will aid in histopathological analyses of skin disorders.
Keywords: human skin; solvatochromic pyrene probe; sweat gland; transparency-enhancing technology; two-photon excitation microscopy.
2020 The Japan Society of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry.