Acantholysis

Not to be confused with Acanthosis.

Acantholysis
Foot-and-mouth disease - acantholysis in a sample of a skin vesicle: Necrosis of the stratum spinosum can be observed, and keratinocytes floating in the vesicular fluid (spongiosa).
Specialty	Dermatology

Acantholysis is the loss of intercellular connections, such as desmosomes, resulting in loss of cohesion between keratinocytes,[1] seen in diseases such as pemphigus vulgaris.[2] It is absent in bullous pemphigoid, making it useful for differential diagnosis.

This histological feature is also seen in herpes simplex infections (HSV 1 and 2) and varicella zoster infections (chicken pox and shingles).

See also

• Skin lesion
• Skin disease
• List of cutaneous conditions

References

1. Kumar, Vinay; Fausto, Nelso; Abbas, Abul (2004) Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease (7th ed.). Saunders. Page 1230. ISBN 0-7216-0187-1.
2. "Acantholysis - Medical Definition from MediLexicon". medilexicon.com. Archived from the original on 2016-07-31. Retrieved 2017-04-22.

External links