Age-related changes in the cutaneous basal lamina: scanning electron microscopic study.

Scanning electron microscopy of human epidermal-dermal basal lamina demonstrated striking age-related changes. The basal lamina from abdominal skin was exposed in specimens from 26 humans by separation of epidermis and dermis after treatment with sodium bromide solutions. Transmission electron micrographs demonstrated the split to be in the lamina lucida. Scanning electron microscopy of mature epidermal-dermal junction and basal lamina showed distinct dermal valleys; tall, dome-shaped dermal papillae; and basal lamina arranged in prominent corrugations that tended to be oriented vertically on papillae and irregularly on interpapillary zones. Skin from subjects in their 7th through 10th decades demonstrated progressive loss of dermal valleys, flattening and widening of dermal papillae, and loss of basal lamina corrugations.