The phospholipid pattern in the involved and the uninvolved psoriatic epidermis.

The phospholipid pattern of the involved and the uninvolved epidermis from 48 psoriatic patients and of the normal epidermis from 23 healthy controls was determined by thin-layer chromatography. A higher amount of total phospholipids was found only in the involved psoriatic epidermis, whereas significant alterations in the phospholipid pattern were observed in the psoriatic lesion and in the lesion-free epidermis. Namely, the decrease of phosphatidylserine and the increase of phosphatidylinositol were identically present in both the involved and the uninvolved psoriatic epidermis. It seems likely that these alterations in the phospholipid pattern in psoriasis may be related to subclinical alterations of the epidermis in this disease.