The utility of elastic Verhoeff‐Van Gieson staining in dermatopathology

Abstract

Elastic fibers are important components of the skin and are responsible for skin elasticity. Genetic defects are well-known in numerous hereditary elastic tissue disorders and skin biopsies are often the first step in the evaluation of those disorders. Verhoeff-Van Gieson elastic staining is a simple method that is used for visualizing elastic fibers. With the development of modern immunohistochemical methods, the value of routine histochemical staining is sometimes underestimated. Histochemical stains are less expensive, easy to perform and help to resolve numerous diagnostic quandaries in dermatopathology. This article focuses on the value of elastic tissue staining in dermatopathology, with a focus on primary elastic tissue disorders, alopecia, inflammatory skin disorders and neoplastic proliferations. Connective tissue comprises of three types of fibers: collagen fibers, reticular fibers and elastic fibers. These fibers are made of proteins and composed of long peptide chains. While the main function of collagen and reticular fibers is to provide tensile strength and support respectively, the elastic fibers are mainly there for providing stretchability and flexibility. Elastic fibers can stretch up to 1.5 times their length, and snap back to their original length when relaxed. The long and branching arrangement of fibers enables them to stretch and recoil thus providing flexibility to tissues. Elastic fibers are composed of two structural components: elastin and microfibrils, and include elastin, elaunin and oxytalan.

Histopathology and enhanced detection of tumor invasion of peritoneal membranes

“…The histopathology may be difficult to recognize due to injury and distortion of the peritoneal membrane caused by tumor invasion and associated inflammation [22,23]. Evaluation for tumor invasion of the elastic lamina can also be challenging due to anatomic variations in its composition, its displacement from the peritoneal surface, splaying, attenuation, and destruction of its elastic fibers, and variation in the technical quality of the elastic stain [10–12,21,24,25]. In fact, the elastic lamina, when invaded by tumor, can be undetected in as high as 59% of deeply invasive colorectal carcinoma, or inapparent even in tumors that penetrate the visceral peritoneal surface [9,11,12].…”

Increase of elastic fibers in lichen sclerosus et atrophicus

“…Elastic tissue diseases are classified into two categories: diseases with diminished or increased elastic fibers . Elastolytic change in the upper dermis and hyperelastic change in mid to lower dermis have been reported in other skin disorders, including pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE)‐like papillary dermal elastolysis, of which a clinical feature is asymptomatic white or skin‐colored papules on the neck, axilla and inguinal region.…”

Histological investigation of human glaucomatous eyes: Extracellular fibrotic changes and galectin 3 expression in the trabecular meshwork and optic nerve head

“…Masson's Trichrome (Richard‐Allan Scientific, Kalamazoo MI) stains collagen and bone (blue to green), keratin and muscle fibers (red), cytoplasm (pink), and nuclei (dark red to purple) (Goldner, ). VVG stains elastic fibers (blue to black), nuclei (blue to black), collagen (red), muscle and other tissues (orange‐yellow) (Kazlouskaya et al, ) to focus on elastosis (Morimoto et al, ). The TM was stained using H&E, Masson's Trichrome, and VVG.…”