Studies in cutaneous aging: II. The microvasculature.

We studied by light and electron microscopy the microcirculatory vessels in the sun exposed and sun protected skin of normal and psoriatic individuals in order to separate the features of actinic damage from those of chronological aging. In actinically damaged skin, the vascular walls of postcapillary venules and of arterial and venous capillaries were thickened by the peripheral addition of a layer of basement membrane-like material. The veil cells which were intimately related to these layers often had dilated cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum containing electron dense material. In 3 of 8 individuals, 70, 70 and 72 yr old, the buttock skin showed mold vascular wall thickening. In 5 other patients, 59-88 yr old the vessels of the buttock skin were normal. In 4 individuals 80-93 yr old, the vessels were abnormally thin (0.5-1.0 micrometer). The veil cells were either absent or decreased in number in these specimens. We propose that (1) the veil cell is responsible for the synthesis and maintenance of the peripheral portion of the vascular wall of the dermal microcirculatory vessels; (2) the veil cell is stimulated to produce excessive basement membrane-like material in response to UV light, factors associated with diabetes mellitus, and possibly to factors associated with the early phase of chronological aging; and (3) with progressive aging there is a decrease in the number and synthetic activity of veil cells which correlates with the appearance of abnormally thin walled vessels.