Table 4.

Effects of partial lipectomy (surgical removal of the parametrial fat pads) on UVB-induced formation of apoptotic sunburn cells and phospho-p53 (Ser-15)-positive cells in the epidermis of female SKH-1 mice

Treatment	% Apoptotic sunburn cells		% Phospho-p53 (Ser-15)-positive cells
	Exp. 1	Exp. 2	Exp. 1	Exp. 2
Sham-operated control	0.33 ± 0.05	0.32 ± 0.13	4.41 ± 0.76	3.86 ± 0.51
Partial lipectomy	0.65 ± 0.08*	0.69 ± 0.12*	4.46 ± 0.70	4.29 ± 0.42
% increase	97	116	1	11

Female SKH-1 mice (10 weeks old, 15 per group) underwent surgery to remove their parametrial fat pads or underwent the same surgical procedure, but with their parametrial fat pads left intact (sham-operated controls). The weight of the fat pads removed was 0.79 ± 0.08 g per mouse in Exp. 1 and 0.84 ± 0.07 g per mouse in Exp. 2. At 2 weeks after the surgical procedure, the mice were irradiated with UVB (30 mJ/cm²), and they were killed 6 h later. Other mice (five per group) underwent surgery as described above and were killed 2 weeks later without receiving irradiation with UVB. In the absence of UVB irradiation, the number of apoptotic sunburn cells or phospho-p53 (Ser-15)-positive cells in sham-operated control mice or in mice with a partial lipectomy was ≤0.01%. Apoptotic sunburn cells were determined morphologically, and phospho-p53 (Ser-15)-positive cells were measured immunohistochemically. Each value represents the mean ± SE. ∗, P < 0.01.