Identification of Histological Patterns in Clinically Affected and Unaffected Palm Regions in Dupuytren's Disease Alfonso-Rodríguez, Camilo Andrés Garzón Bello, Ingrid Johanna Garrido-Gómez, Juan Ximenes Oliveira, Ana Celeste Martín Piedra, Miguel Ángel Scionti, Giuseppe Carriel Araya, Víctor Hernández-Cortés, Pedro Campos Muñoz, Antonio Jesús Alaminos Mingorance, Miguel Collagens Sulfates Proetoglycans Gene expression Fibroblasts Glycoproteins Immunohistochemical analysis Staining Dupuytren's disease is a fibro-proliferative disease characterized by a disorder of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and high myofibroblast proliferation. However, studies failed to determine if the whole palm fascia is affected by the disease. The objective of this study was to analyze several components of the extracellular matrix of three types of tissues—Dupuytren's diseased contracture cords (DDC), palmar fascia clinically unaffected by Dupuytren's disease contracture (NPF), and normal forehand fascia (NFF). Histological analysis, quantification of cells recultured from each type of tissue, mRNA microarrays and immunohistochemistry for smooth muscle actin (SMA), fibrillar ECM components and non-fibrillar ECM components were carried out. The results showed that DDC samples had abundant fibrosis with reticular fibers and few elastic fibers, high cell proliferation and myofibroblasts, laminin and glycoproteins, whereas NFF did not show any of these findings. Interestingly, NPF tissues had more cells showing myofibroblasts differentiation and more collagen and reticular fibers, laminin and glycoproteins than NFF, although at lower level than DDC, with similar elastic fibers than DDC. Immunohistochemical expression of decorin was high in DDC, whereas versican was highly expressed NFF, with no differences for aggrecan. Cluster analysis revealed that the global expression profile of NPF was very similar to DDC, and reculturing methods showed that cells corresponding to DDC tissues proliferated more actively than NPF, and NPF more actively than NFF. All these results suggest that NPF tissues may be affected, and that a modification of the therapeutic approach used for the treatment of Dupuytren's disease should be considered. 2015-03-23T13:13:41Z 2015-03-23T13:13:41Z 2014 journal article Alfonso-Rodríguez, C.A.; et al. Identification of Histological Patterns in Clinically Affected and Unaffected Palm Regions in Dupuytren's Disease. Plos One, 9(11): e112457 (2014). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/35340] 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/35340 10.1371/journal.pone.0112457 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Public Library of Science (PLOS)