Influence of cell dissociation on normal epidermal cells in Hailey-Hailey's disease and Darier's disease.

The effects of cell dissociation in HHD and DD on normal outgrown epidermal cells in explant culture were investigated, and the results were obtained as follows: The outgrown epidermal cells from skin fragments of patients with HHD or DD reveal characteristic dissociative behavior in explant culture. This phenomenon is considered to be "acantholysis" at the level of tissue culture. The outgrown epidermal cells from the normal skin fragments can dissociate when they are cultured together with those from patients with HHD or DD. The latter exhibits distinct dissociative behavior. These cell dissociations can be stopped by changing the medium to a new one. These dissociations reappear by decreasing the amount of the medium to a certain low level. The dissociation of outgrown epidermal cells from normal skin fragments occurs on transference of the medium in which the cell dissociations were observed.