A Modification of the Adenosine Triphosphatase Method to Demonstrate Epidermal Langerhans Cells

Epidermal Langerhans cells are most commonly demonstrated by utilizing their adenosine triphosphatase reactivity. Although this is one of the best methods available to the light microscopist, it is a capricious technique which does not always permit optimal demonstration of this cell population. Prolonged fixation in cacodylate formalin and incubation in 1.32 X 10-3 molar adenosine triphosphatase permits reliable reproduction and good definition of these dendritic cells.