P3.33 The expression of amphiphysin-2 during skeletal muscle regeneration

Skin biopsy as a complementary in the diagnosis of small fiber neuropathy, has came to be increasingly used by different researchers. There is a need to establish normative standards that allow the comparison of biopsies performed in patients with biopsies performed in healthy individuals in the Portuguese population. Presentation of data collected in the counts of intraepidermal nerve fibers in skin biopsies from healthy volunteers without pathology, with descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). We performed two skin biopsies 3 mm in diameter by Punch biopsy of the lower limb. A distal, 10 cm above the external malleolus, and one proximal to 20 cm from the iliac crest. The material is fixed in paraformaldehyde, cryoprotected with 20% glycerol and cryopreserved at 80 C. Are made serial sections of 50 l and is made immunohistochemical staining with antibody to PGP 9.5 counts posterior fibers of the skin. We studied 19 individuals, 6 men and 13 women. For the proximal biopsies, the average is 30 fibers, 3 mm with a standard deviation of 9.55 fibers 3 mm distal to the biopsies, the average is 24.5 fibers 3 mm with a standard deviation of 10, 6 fibers, 3 mm; There is a lower concentration of fibers in biopsies distal compared with proximal biopsies. The results obtained allow to establish a normative database for the Portuguese population, though limited by the availability of volunteers. These data are important in the diagnosis of small fiber neuropathies.