Ultrastructural localization of desmoglein and plakophilin in the human hair suggests that the cell membrane complex is a long desmosomal remnant

Unlike the superficial part of the corneous layer of the epidermis (Stratum corneum) where desmosomes are degraded and corneocytes flake away, the trichocytes in the hair remain attached to each other after cornification. The permanence and fine localization of cell junctions, in particular of desmosomal proteins in the cornifying and mature human hair, is not known. The present electron microscope immunolocalization study indicates that two...