Figure 2

Expression of α-SMA and LTBP-4 was increased in the skin lesions of scleroderma patients. (a) H&E and Masson’s staining for the human skin tissues of normal control, LSc, and SSc. Original magnifications: × 40, scale bars: 1000 μm. (b) Dermal thickness was calculated at × 40 microscopic magnification by measuring the distance between the dermal–epidermal junction and the derma–subcutaneous fat junction (μm; as indicated by H&E staining in (a) in five randomly selected fields for each skin section. (c) IHC for α-SMA and LTBP-4 in normal tissue, LSc, and SSc. More positive cells were observed in the LSc and SSc group compared with control one. Black arrow indicates α-SMA-positive staining and LTBP-4-positive staining. The length of bars in the figures with an original magnification of × 100 are 200 μm, and the length of bars in the figures with an original magnifications of × 400 is 100 μm. Bars show the mean±s.e.m. results in each group. ***P<0.0001. H&E, hematoxylin/eosin; IHC, immunohistochemistry; LTBP-4, latent TGF-β-binding protein 4; LSC, localized scleroderma; α-SMA, α-smooth muscle actin; SSC,systemic scleroderma.