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Alopecia areata has been reported to be accompanied by abnormal autoimmune dysfunction. We examined the expression of cutaneous lymphocyte-associated antigen (CLA), which is a skin-specific lymphocyte homing receptor, in the peripheral blood lymphocytes and skin of patients with alopecia areata. In the patients' peripheral blood, the percentage of CLA-positive CD4+ or CD8+ lymphocytes, was significantly higher than that of normal controls. The patients with severe or progressive alopecia areata showed a much higher CLA-positivity compared to patients recovering from the disease. A chronological study showed that the percentage of CLA-positive peripheral blood lymphocytes, CD4 + or CD8 + lymphocytes decreased in parallel with the patients' good clinical course. The CLA-positivity in peripheral blood lymphocytes, CD4+ or CD8+ lymphocytes of patients with alopecia areata who did not respond to oral corticosteroid therapy remained higher than in those who responded well to the treatment. In the affected scalp skin, many infiltrating lymphocytes around the hair follicles, which were CD4+ or CD8+ lymphocytes, expressed CLA. These findings suggest that the CLA-positivity correlates with clinical activity and that CLA-positive CD4+ or CD8+ lymphocytes may play an important role in alopecia areata.

The existence of an intracytoplasmic membrane system produced by the invagination and extension of the cytoplasmic membrane into the cytoplasm, and which appears as lamellar, concentric, or vesicular in configuration, has been established in a number of bacterial species(3). This membrane system is sometimes referred to membranous organelles, or mesosomes. Reports of the intracytoplasmic membrane system in anaerobic bacteria are encountered only rarely in the literature. FitzJames(6) working with Clostridium pectinovorum and the authors'laboratory(15,16) working with Fusobacterium polymorphum, report what appears to be the membrane system in these organisms. The aim of the present investigation is to learn the intracytoplasmic membrane system in Clostridium tetani and Clostridium botulinum, and if possible, to elucidate the role of this system in the sporulation process and in cell division. MATERIALS AND METHODSStrains . A Cl. tetani strain (Riku-3) and a Cl. botulinum type E strain (Saroma ) were used .Media . Liver broth fortified with 1% glucose was used to grow vegetative cells. To preserve spores and to observe the sporulation process, the same medium without glucose was used .Culture conditions. The cells from stock cultures in liver broth were transferred to the same medium, cultured for 72 hours at 37 C, and then kept for 4 days at room temperature to obtain sufficient numbers of spores. These cultures were heated for 15 minutes at 70 C to kill vegetative cells, and resulting spore preparation were inoculated into the same medium, and cultured at 37 C for 10 to 48 hours or more according to the purpose of experiments .Ultrathin sectioning. Procedures were performed largely according to the method of Kellenberger, Ryter, and Sechaud(10). After specified periods of incubation, the broth culture were cooled in ice water and spun down. The sedimented cells were fixed in 1% osmium tetroxide for 18 hours at 4 C. After embedding in 2% agar, agar blocks were treated with 0.5% uranyl acetate for 2 to 3 hours at room temperature.Fixation in 2% potassium permanganate in tap water for 4 hours at 0 C