The effects of essential fatty acid deficiency on the skin of the mouse

Abstract

Abstract Mice raised from weaning on a diet free of essential fatty acids (EFA) developed a syndrome involving scaliness and inelasticity of the skin with extensive loss of hair. Histologically, the epidermis of EFA‐deficient mice became noticeably thicker within as few as ten days on the diet and reached a maximum thickness in all strata of the epidermis by 50 days. Animals on the same diet supplemented with 50 mg of purified linoleic acid every other day developed none of the symptoms of deficiency. Mitotic counts on whole‐mounted epidermal sheets split from the foot pads of EFA‐deficient and linoleic acid‐supplemented mice revealed significantly greater mitotic activity in the deficient animals. Histochemical activity for succinic dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase was more intense and extensive in the lower stratum Malpighii of the deficient animals than in controls. Acid phosphatase activity also was more intense in the stratum granulosum of deficient animals. These observations are interpreted to indicate that in the mouse cellular proliferation and differentiation of the epidermis are accelerated by essential fatty acid deficiency.