Fig. 3

Visualisation of CD11c⁺ dendritic cells in situ and morphological staining of epidermal MNPs. a, b Human abdominal tissue was sectioned and stained for HLA-DR, CD11c, CD1c, MR and langerin for fluorescence microscopy. All images representative of at least 3 different donors. a Epidermal CD11c⁺ DCs could be discerned from LCs by their expression of MR, brighter expression of CD1c and CD11c and lack of langerin expression. b Epidermal CD11c⁺ DCs (white arrows) could be discerned from LCs (red arrows) in situ as HLA-DR⁺, CD11c^bright cells and were almost always situated close to the basement membrane. c Epidermal sheets were digested with collagenase Type IV and each epidermal HLA-DR⁺CD45⁺ MNP population was FACS sorted and a Giemsa stain carried out for morphological examination