Evaluation of epidermal thickness of mouse skin after treatment with an inflammatory drug

Skin inflammation may be a sign of allergic, autoimmune or infectious conditions. The InCellis, Smart Cell Imaging system, coupled with the Measurement App, was used to follow the impact of a drug on the epidermal thickness of mouse skin after a treatment.

Thickened stratum corneum and retention of nuclei within corneocytes can be observed on the sample (Fig 1 C, red arrow). To facilitate the measurement, we captured images in fluorescence. The Elastic fibers present in dermis and stratum corneum are easily visible by eosin fluorescence, while epidermis cell fluorescence is less intense (Fig 1, B and D). The results obtained showed that an average epidermal thickness of 49.2µm on the sample of the mouse treated with the inflammatory drug, 3.2 times thicker than the control mouse (average of 15.2µm). The average Stratum corneum thickness was 9.75µm for the treated mouse’s sample and 3µg for control mouse’s sample (data not displayed).

Figure 1. H&E 5µm thick samples mouse skin. Control (A, B) and treated mouse (C, D), 40X magnification.