ABSTRACT
Clinical evidence of chronic proliferative dermatitis cpd becomes apparent at 2 weeks after weaning (5 weeks of age). There is erythema, thinning of hair, and fine scaling of the ventral and dorsal skin, starting in the chest and dorsal neck areas. The lesions expand to involve the entire body and head, but ears, footpads, and tail remain unaffected. Apart from the skin lesions, necropsy only reveals an enlarged spleen. Basal keratinocytes and endothelial cells in the skin of the cpd mouse, but not of control mice, express ICAM-1. Transfer of hemopoietic cells from cpd mice to syngeneic mice failed to induce cpd lesions in the recipients suggesting that hemopoietic cells do not play a primary role in the pathogenesis. The skin lesions of cpd mice have several features of psoriasiform disease, such as hyperproliferation of keratinocytes, infiltration of neutrophils into the epidermis, and dermal capillary dilatation and proliferation.
