Experimentally induced complement and immunoglobulin deposition along the basement membrane zone (BMZ) and in dermal blood vessels

Clinically normal forearm skin of ten subjects was abraded and biopsied at 24 h and at 5 and 10 day intergvals. Biopsy specimens were processed for routine histology and direct immunofluorescence. All ten subjects showed deposition of complement either in the blood vessels and/or along the basement membrane zone 24 h after injury. IgM deposition was found along the BMZ in two patients and in the blood vessels of the papillary dermis in one patient. This immunofluorescence staining was considered a non-specific reaction pattern to injury.