Topical exposure to a variety of xenobiotics may result in irritant as well as allergic contact
dermatitis both in rodents and in humans. Despite their induction by different mechanisms,
they cannot be differentiated by macroscopic appearance and, by histological examination
they are both generally characterized by a perivascular mononuclear cell infiltrate and
capillary hyperpermeability. Recently, cytokines, a family of inducible glycoproteins that play
a pivotal role in immune and inflammatory reactions, have been identified as useful tools for …