Scanning electron microscopy of skin surface and the internal structure of corneocyte in normal human skin. An application of the osmium-dimethyl sulfoxide-osmium method.

A horny layer of normal human skin prepared according to the newly developed osmium-dimethyl sulfoxide-osmium method was examined using scanning electron microscopy. On the skin surface, cytomembranes of the uppermost corneocytes frequently had unilateral, very slightly flat-elevated, zonal areas along the junctions between the corneocytes. The uppermost corneocytes peeled off along the junctions, leaving the remnants of their cell bodies in the junctional areas. In the cracked surface, cytomembranes of the corneocytes protruded from the plane of their cytoplasmic surface. In the lateral junction between the corneocytes, the cytomembranes of the corneocytes were in tight contact with each other, while occasionally the marginal bands had become detached from the cytomembranes. In the vertical connection, cleavages formed between the cytomembranes of the corneocytes. There were thick woollen thread-like structures about 10-30 nm thick in the cytoplasm of the corneocytes. They formed fine irregular meshworks, with their tips projecting digitally: Transmission electron microscopy revealed these structures as most likely being keratin bundles transformed during processing.