Histochemical Comparison of Boeck's Sarcoid with Other Cutaneous Granulomas

Abstract

Mowry's histochemical application of Alcian blue as a stain for acid mucopolysaccharides has opened new roads for the examination of the mucopolysaccharides of the skin.¹ In a previous study of cutaneous leprosy, utilizing this and other suitable stains, we observed the following: a decrease of dermal neutral mucopolysaccharides as a characteristic of leprous granulomas; a lesser effect on acid mucopolysaccharides of the dermis; and an unanticipated abundance of mast cells.² In the present study of skin specimens of various other types of granulomatous infiltrations our purpose was to find whether the newer histochemical stains for mucopolysaccharides might be of any differential diagnostic value or would reveal any information as to their etiology. The cause of skin lesions of Boeck's sarcoid (Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease), erythema induratum, lichen nitidus, and granuloma annulare is as yet unknown. Tuberculoid granulomatous infiltrations of the skin are present in the first three entities; the fourth