Bullous eruption of diabetes(BD) is a rare cutaneous sign of diabetes mellitus(DM). The mechanism for the development of these lesions is unknown, although speculation has ranged from trauma to vascular insufficiency.

Our purpose is to evaluate the difference of basement membrane gene expression in cultured skin fibroblasts between patients with diabetes and normal controls.

Total RNA was extracted from cultured skin fibroblasts of DM and normal, and then Northern blot and slot-blot hybridizations were done.

The mRNA levels of a(I) procollagen, a(IV) procollagen, fibronectin, and laminin B1 were not altered significantly in the DM.

Our results suggest that BD has no relevance to the alteration of basement membrane components. Further studies are needed to clarify the underlying pathogenic mechanism of BD.