Inconsistent with the view that hair follicle stem cells reside in the matrix area of the hair bulb, we found that label-retaining cells exist exclusively in the bulge area of the mouse hair follicle. The bulge consists of a subpopulation of outer root sheath cells located in the midportion of the follicle at the arrector pili muscle attachment site. Keratinocytes in the bulge area are relative...

It is generally agreed that the dermal papilla is a vital component of the hair and feather follicle. Lillie & Wang (1941, 1944) and Wang (1943) have shown for feather follicles that if the dermal papilla, which normally maintains its integrity throughout the growth cycles, and its ectodermal investment are removed from the follicle, feather production ceases. However, if a dermal papilla is tr...

Organ replacement regenerative therapy is purported to enable the replacement of organs damaged by disease, injury or aging in the foreseeable future. Here we demonstrate fully functional hair organ regeneration via the intracutaneous transplantation of a bioengineered pelage and vibrissa follicle germ. The pelage and vibrissae are reconstituted with embryonic skin-derived cells and adult vibri...

Porokeratotic eccrine and hair follicle nevus is a very rare non-hereditary disorder of keratinization with eccrine and hair follicle involvement with only 9 cases described in the literature. In 2009 the term porokeratotic anexial ostial nevus was proposed to comprehend porokeratotic eccrine and hair follicle nevus and a related and more common process without follicular involvement: porokerat...

The hair follicle bulge area is an abundant, easily accessible source of actively growing, pluripotent adult stem cells. Nestin, a protein marker for neural stem cells, is also expressed in follicle stem cells as well as their immediate differentiated progeny. The nestin-expressing hair follicle stem cells differentiated into neurons, glial cells, keratinocytes and smooth muscle cells in vitro....

Receptor activator of NF-κB (RANK), known for controlling bone mass, has been recognized for its role in epithelial cell activation of the mammary gland. Because bone and the epidermo-pilosebaceous unit of the skin share a lifelong renewal activity where similar molecular players operate, and because mammary glands and hair follicles are both skin appendages, we have addressed the function of R...

BACKGROUND The aim of this work was to create a xenogeneic cell scaffold complex with rabbit bladder acellular matrix and rat hair follicle stem cells, to study the feasibility of construct tissue engineer bladder through biocompatibility of hair follicle stem cells and heterogeneous bladder acellular matrix. MATERIAL AND METHODS New Zealand rabbit bladder acellular matrix was prepared. Scann...

Transforming growth factor-beta-activated kinase 1 (TAK1) is a member of the NF-kappaB pathway and regulates inflammatory responses. We previously showed that TAK1 also regulates keratinocyte growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. However, it is unknown whether TAK1 has any role in epithelial-mesenchymal interactions. To examine this possibility, we studied the role of TAK1 in mouse hair folli...

Dr. Pierre A. de Viragh, Service de dermatologie, Centre hospitaller universitaire, CH-1011 Lausanne (Switzerland) The case report of Komura and Tani [1] on a hair follicle nevus provides the opportunity to raise the question whether this hamar-toma is really an entity of its own. There are some indications that the hair follicle nevus could be a well-differentiated trichofollicu-loma cut at it...