Morphometry of dermal nerve fibers in human skin

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to assess the innervation density of dermal nerves in human skin biopsies by bright-field immunohistochemistry. Methods: The size of dermal area where nerve length was quantified was validated in 30 skin biopsy sections (5 controls and 5 patients with small-fiber neuropathy [SFN]). It was obtained dividing an area of 200-μm depth from the dermal-epidermal junction into 4 equal portions. The length of dermal nerves (DNFL) was measured into 150 sections (25 controls and 25 patients with SFN) and values per millimeter of epidermis (DNFL/mm) and dermal area (DNFL/mm²) were obtained. Age- and gender-matched normative values of intraepidermal nerve fiber (IENF) density were used as gold standard to calculate the performance of dermal nerve morphometry. Results: Patients showed significantly lower DNFL (1.96 mm ± 0.96 SD), DNFL/mm (0.65 ± 0.29 SD), and DNFL/mm² (3.75 ± 1.7 SD) than controls (DNFL 3.52 mm ± 1.31 SD, 5th percentile 2.05; DNFL/mm 1.25 ± 0.39, 5th percentile 0.71; DNFL/mm² 7.07 ± 2.41 SD, 5th percentile 3.95). Sensitivity, specificity, and percentage of individuals correctly classified were 75.8%, 73.9%, and 74.8% for DNFL, 75%, 80%, and 77.7% for DNFL/mm, and 75.8%, 80.2%, and 78.1% for DNFL/mm². Receiver operator characteristic area analysis confirmed the excellent discrimination (0.8–0.9) between patients and controls. Dermal nerve morphometry significantly correlated with IENF density. Spearman rank correlation demonstrated good agreement for interobserver analysis (0.87–0.89), and between DNFL and IENF densities (0.71–0.73; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: We provided a reliable method to quantify the innervation density of dermal nerves that might improve the diagnostic yield of skin biopsy.