Figure 2.
The effect of anti-α6 and anti-α4 integrin antibodies on the migration of epidermal LCs in vitro. Skin explants were derived from the ears of naive mice and incubated on medium containing either (A) anti-α6 (GoH3) or (B) anti-α4 (PS/2) integrin antibodies at 10, 50, or 100 μg/ml (solid bars). Controls included explants cultured on medium containing either no antibody (open bars) or isotype-matched control antibody at 100 μg/ml (hatched bars). Epidermal sheets were prepared from fresh ear skin (0 h) and explants after 72 h of incubation and the number of LCs/mm2 determined by immunohistochemistry. The results are expressed as means ± SD (n = 18). At all concentrations tested, in cultures containing anti-α6 antibodies, the frequency of LCs did not differ significantly from that found in fresh explants. These same values were significantly (P <0.0001) higher than those found in fresh explants cultured for 72 h in the absence of antibody, or with an isotype-matched control antibody (A). Similar treatment of explant cultures with anti-α4 antibody failed to result, at any concentration, in a significant increase in LC numbers compared with controls (B).