FIGURES AND TABLES
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Development of Atopic Dermatitis in Mice Transgenic for Human Apolipoprotein C1
Lex Nagelkerken, Perry Verzaal, Tonny Lagerweij, Carla Persoon-Deen, Jimmy F P Berbee, Errol P Prens, Louis M Havekes and Arnold P Oranje
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Figure 1.
Appearance of atopic dermatitis in APOC1(+/+) mice. AD in APOC1(+/+) mice is associated with scaling, papules, lichenification, and excoriations. Upper panel, 12-week-old APOC1(+/+) mouse; middle panel, 18-week-old APOC1(+/+) mouse; lower panel, 12-week-old APOC1(+/-) control mouse.
Full figure and legend (153K)
Figure 2.
Histopathology of AD. Mice were killed at an age of 12 weeks and skin sections were evaluated with respect to epidermal hyperplasia (a and d, hematoxyllin/eosin staining), the presence of eosinophils (arrows) and neutrophils (b and e; LUNA staining), mast cells (c and f; toluidin blue staining), CD4+ T cells (g and j), CD11b+ cells (h and k), and IgE+ cells (i and l). (a–c and g–I) The results for APOC1(+/+) mice, whereas (d–f and j–l) show the staining of tissues from APOC1(+/-) controls. (m–o) The isotype controls for CD4, CD11b, and IgE, respectively. The insert of (a) shows an example of spongiosis at an age of 12 weeks. The arrow in (c) indicates degranulation of mast cells. Bar=50 
m in (b, c, e, and f) and the insert of (a); bar=100 m in all other panels.
Figure 3.
Dynamics of inflammatory cells in APOC1(+/+) mice. Mice were killed at different ages starting at an age of 6 weeks, and tissue sections were evaluated with respect to the number of eosinophils and neutrophils. Individual APOC1(+/+) mice are indicated with filled circles; results of APOC1(+/-) and wild-type mice are indicated as triangles and open circles, respectively. For each individual mouse, three non-serial sections were evaluated (10 sequential microscopic views per section). Each symbol represents an individual mouse with the mean number of cells per microscopic view at a 
1000 magnification. For statistical analysis data obtained in 5- and 6-week-old mice were combined; the same was done for 8- and 9-week-old mice. The Kruskal–Wallis test showed significant differences for eosinophils (P<0.0005) and neutrophils (P<0.00005). At all time points, both cell types were significantly increased as compared to wild-type mice or APOC1(+/-) mice (Mann–Whitney U-test, P<0.01).
Figure 4.
AD in APOC1(+/+) mice: mast cells and IgE. Mice were killed at different ages starting at an age of 6 weeks, and tissue sections were evaluated with respect to the number of (a) mast cells or (c) IgE+ cells. Individual APOC1(+/+) mice are indicated with filled circles. Heterozygous APOC1(+/-) mice (triangles) or -/- wild-type mice (open circles), which do not develop AD, are included as controls. (b) IgE levels were tested by ELISA as described in Materials and Methods. For each individual mouse, three non-serial sections were evaluated (10 sequential microscopic views per section). Each symbol represents an individual mouse with the mean number of cells per microscopic view at a 400 magnification. (c) Number of IgE+ cells was determined and for each individual mouse it was plotted against the corresponding serum value. For statistical analysis, data obtained in 5- and 6-week-old mice were combined; the same was done for 8- and 9-week-old mice. The Kruskal–Wallis test showed significant differences for mast cells (P<0.00001) and for IgE (P<0.01). At all time points, numbers of mast cells were significantly increased (Mann–Whitney U-test, P<0.01), as compared to wild-type mice or APOC1(+/-) mice. Differences as compared to week 5/6 are indicated in the figure.
Figure 5.
Increased epidermal thickening during progression of dermatitis in APOC1(+/+) mice. Heterozygous APOC1(+/-) mice (triangles) or -/- wild-type mice (open circles), which do not develop AD, are included as controls. For each individual mouse, three non-serial sections were evaluated and for each section the epidermal thickness was determined (10 measurements with an interval of 250 m). For each individual mouse, the average thickness of 30 measurements is shown. For statistical analysis, data obtained in 5- and 6-week-old mice were combined; the same was done for 8- and 9-week-old mice. The Kruskal–Wallis test showed a significant difference between the groups (P<0.00005). At all time points, epidermal thickness was significantly increased (Mann–Whitney U-test, P<0.01) as compared to wild-type mice or APOC1(+/-) mice. Differences as compared to week 5/6 are indicated in the figure.
Figure 6.
Increased TEWL in APOC1(+/+) mice: effect of lipophilic ointment. (a) TEWL was evaluated in the upper dorsal area of 12-week-old APOC1(+/+) mice left untreated or after treatment by topical application (daily, 3 weeks) with 20% petrolatum in cetomacrogolus cream or a moisturizing cream; APOC1(+/-) mice were included as controls. In a separate experiment, 9-week-old APOC1(+/+) mice were left untreated (filled circles) or treated for a period of 3 weeks with 20% petrolatum in cetomacrogolus cream (open circles), and evaluated with respect to TEWL (b) and the severity of dermatitis according to the TIS score (c).
Full figure and legend (15K)
Figure 7.
The development of AD in APOC1(+/+) mice is associated with pruritus. Mice (n=8) were included at an age of 9 weeks and individually monitored at weekly intervals with respect to their scratching behavior, as described in Materials and Methods. Results are expressed as group means
SEM. The triangle indicates the mean number of scratches per hour in 9-week-old heterozygous APOC1(+/-)mice. Changes in scratch frequency were evaluated with the Wilcoxon signed ranks test. P-values show significant differences as compared to the values at ages of 9 and 10 weeks.
Figure 8.
Inhibition of epidermal hyperplasia and inflammation by TCA. APOC1(+/+) mice, 9 weeks of age, were included and left untreated or subjected to daily topical treatment with 0.1% TCA or moisturizing cream. Treatment resulted in significant (a) inhibition of epidermal thickening and (b) inhibition of infiltration with inflammatory cells (
untreated, 
0.1% TCA, 
moisturizing cream). Bar=100 m.