The dermo-epidermal junction is characterised on a light microscopic level by an uneven interface. Fine connective tissue dermal papillae and coarser connective tissue dermal ridges project upwards from the dermis. The regular arrangement of the latter determines an individual's 'fingerprint'. At sites of mechanical stress or shearing forces, equivalent epidermal ridges project downwards.
The electron microscope reveals that stratum basale keratinocytes sit upon a highly-structured basement membrane. The membrane consists of a lamina lucida superficial to a lamina densa of type IV collagen. Various connective tissue fibres span the divide to the papillary dermis. Antibodies to one element in the lamina lucida which links basal keratinocytes and lamina densa collagen precipitates bullous pemphigoid.
The dermo-epidermal junction is the area most clearly involved with the production of pruritus.
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