Collagen types I, III, and V in human embryonic and fetal skin

Abstract The dermis of human skin develops embryonically from lateral plate mesoderm and is established in an adult‐like pattern by the end of the first trimester of gestation. In this study the structure, biochemistry, and immunocytochemistry of collagenous matrix in embryonic and fetal dermis during the period of 5 to 26 weeks of gestation was investigated. The dermis at five weeks contains fine, individual collagen fibrils draped over the surfaces of mesenchymal cells. With increasing age, collagen matrix increases in abundance in the extracellular space. The size of fibril diameters increases, and greater numbers of fibrils associate into fiber bundles. By 15 weeks, papillary and reticular regions are recognized. Larger‐diameter fibrils, larger fibers, denser accumulations of collagen, and fewer cells distinguish the deeper reticular region from the finer, more cellular papillary region located beneath the epidermis. The distribution of collagen types I, III, and V were studied at the light microscope level by immunoperoxidase staining and at the ultrastructural level by transmission (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with immunogold labeling. By immunoperoxidase, types I and III were found to be evenly distributed, regardless of fetal age, throughout the dermal and subdermal connective tissue with an intensification of staining at the dermalepidermal junction (DEJ). Staining for types III and V collagen was concentrated around blood vessels. Type V collagen was also localized in basal and periderm cells of the epidermis. By immuno‐SEM, types I and III were found associated with collagen fibrils, and type V was localized to dermal cell surfaces and to a more limited extent with fibrils. The results of biochemical analyses for relative amounts of types I, III, and V collagen in fetal skin extracts were consistent with immunoperoxidase data. Type I collagen was 70–75%, type III collagen was 18–21%, and type V was 6–8% of the total of these collagens at all gestational ages tested, compared to 85–90% type I, 8–11% type III, and 2–4% type V in adult skin. The enrichment of both types III and V collagen in fetal skin may reflect in part the proportion of vessel‐ and nerve‐associated collagen versus dermal fibrillar collagen. The accumulation of dermal fibrillar collagen with increasing age would enhance the estimated proportion of type I collagen, even though the ratios of type III to I in dermal collagen fibrils may be similar at all ages.