The basement membrane of hair follicle stem cells is a muscle cell niche

The hair follicle bulge in the epidermis associates with the arrector pili muscle (APM) that is responsible for piloerection ("goosebumps"). We show that stem cells in the bulge deposit nephronectin into the underlying basement membrane, thus regulating the adhesion of mesenchymal cells expressing the nephronectin receptor, α8β1 integrin, to the bulge. Nephronectin induces α8 integrin-positive mesenchymal cells to upregulate smooth muscle markers. In nephronectin knockout mice, fewer arrector pili muscles form in the skin, and they attach to the follicle above the bulge, where there is compensatory upregulation of the nephronectin family member EGFL6. Deletion of α8 integrin also abolishes selective APM anchorage to the bulge. Nephronectin is a Wnt target; epidermal β-catenin activation upregulates epidermal nephronectin and dermal α8 integrin expression. Thus, bulge stem cells, via nephronectin expression, create a smooth muscle cell niche and act as tendon cells for the APM. Our results reveal a functional role for basement membrane heterogeneity in tissue patterning. PAPERCLIP:     

Nerve-derived sonic hedgehog defines a niche for hair follicle stem cells capable of becoming epidermal stem cells

In adult skin, stem cells in the hair follicle bulge cyclically regenerate the follicle, whereas a distinct stem cell population maintains the epidermis. The degree to which all bulge cells have equal regenerative potential is not known. We found that Sonic hedgehog (Shh) from neurons signals to a population of cells in the telogen bulge marked by the Hedgehog response gene Gli1. Gli1-expressing bulge cells function as multipotent stem cells in their native environment and repeatedly regenerate the anagen follicle. Shh-responding perineural bulge cells incorporate into healing skin wounds where, notably, they can change their lineage into epidermal stem cells. The perineural niche (including Shh) is dispensable for follicle contributions to acute wound healing and skin homeostasis, but is necessary to maintain bulge cells capable of becoming epidermal stem cells. Thus, nerves cultivate a microenvironment where Shh creates a molecularly and phenotypically distinct population of hair follicle stem cells.     

毛囊干细胞的应用领域

毛囊干细胞是存在于毛囊外根鞘隆突部的一种成体干细胞,来源丰富且易于获取。与毛囊内的其他成体干细胞一样,毛囊干细胞具有许多的优点,如自我更新能力强、高增殖能力和多分化潜能等,这使得毛囊干细胞成为非常好的分离干细胞来源以及组织工程和再生医学应用的组织来源。毛囊干细胞在表皮和皮肤组织工程中的研究作为一个迅速发展的全新领域,目前已在基础和临床研究方面都取得了巨大进展。本文主要就毛囊干细胞的应用前景展开综述,包括干细胞诱导毛发新生,促进创面愈合,促进神经、脊髓修复,心肌细胞样细胞分化等。     

Platelet sonicates activate hair follicle stem cells and mediate enhanced hair follicle regeneration

An increasing number of studies show that platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) is effective for androgenic alopecia (AGA). However, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms along with its effect on hair follicle stem cells are poorly understood. In this study, we designed to induce platelets in PRP to release factors by calcium chloride (PC) or by sonication where platelet lysates (PS) or the supernatants of platelet lysate (PSS) were used to evaluate their effect on the hair follicle activation and regeneration. We found that PSS and PS exhibited a superior effect in activating telogen hair follicles than PC. In addition, PSS injection into the skin activated quiescent hair follicles and induced K15⁺ hair follicle stem cell proliferation in K14‐H2B‐GFP mice. Moreover, PSS promoted skin‐derived precursor (SKP) survival in vitro and enhanced hair follicle formation in vivo. In consistence, protein array analysis of different PRP preparations revealed that PSS contained higher levels of 16 growth factors (out of 41 factors analysed) than PC, many of them have been known to promote hair follicle regeneration. Thus, our data indicate that sonicated PRP promotes hair follicle stem cell activation and de novo hair follicle regeneration.     

Capturing and profiling adult hair follicle stem cells

The hair follicle bulge possesses putative epithelial stem cells. Characterization of these cells has been hampered by the inability to target bulge cells genetically. Here, we use a Keratin1-15 (Krt1-15, also known as K15) promoter to target mouse bulge cells with an inducible Cre recombinase construct or with the gene encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), which allow for lineage analysis and for isolation of the cells. We show that bulge cells in adult mice generate all epithelial cell types within the intact follicle and hair during normal hair follicle cycling. After isolation, adult Krt1-15-EGFP-positive cells reconstituted all components of the cutaneous epithelium and had a higher proliferative potential than Krt1-15-EGFP-negative cells. Genetic profiling of hair follicle stem cells revealed several known and unknown receptors and signaling pathways important for maintaining the stem cell phenotype. Ultimately, these findings provide potential targets for the treatment of hair loss and other disorders of skin and hair.     

Hair follicle stem cells provide a functional niche for melanocyte stem cells

In most stem cell systems, the organization of the stem cell niche and the anchoring matrix required for stem cell maintenance are largely unknown. We report here that collagen XVII (COL17A1/BP180/BPAG2), a hemidesmosomal transmembrane collagen, is highly expressed in hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) and is required for the maintenance not only of HFSCs but also of melanocyte stem cells (MSCs), which do not express Col17a1 but directly adhere to HFSCs. Mice lacking Col17a1 show premature hair graying and hair loss. Analysis of Col17a1-null mice revealed that COL17A1 is critical for the self-renewal of HFSCs through maintaining their quiescence and immaturity, potentially explaining the mechanism underlying hair loss in human COL17A1 deficiency. Moreover, forced expression of COL17A1 in basal keratinocytes, including HFSCs, in Col17a1-null mice rescues MSCs from premature differentiation and restores TGF-β signaling, demonstrating that HFSCs function as a critical regulatory component of the MSC niche.     

Culture and characterization of rat hair follicle stem cells

The purpose of this study was to establish methods for isolation, culture, expansion, and characterization of rat hair follicle stem cells (rHFSCs). Hair follicles were harvested from 1-week-old Sprague–Dawley rats and digested with dispase and collagenase IV. The bulge of the hair follicle was dissected under a microscope and cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium/F12 supplemented with KnockOut? Serum Replacement serum substitute, penicillin–streptomycin, l-glutamine, non-essential amino acids, epidermal growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor, polyhydric alcohol, and hydrocortisone. The rHFSCs were purified using adhesion to collagen IV. Cells were characterized by detecting marker genes with immunofluorescent staining and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The proliferation and vitality of rHFSCs at different passages were evaluated. The cultured rHFSCs showed typical cobblestone morphology with good adhesion and colony-forming ability. Expression of keratin 15, integrin α6, and integrin β1 were shown by immunocytochemistry staining. On day 1–2, the cells were in the latent phase. On day 5–6, the cells were in the logarithmic phase. Cell vitality gradually decreased from the 7th passage. Real-time PCR showed that the purified rHFSCs had good vitality and proliferative capacity and contained no keratinocytes. Highly purified rHFSCs can be obtained using tissue culture and adhesion to collagen IV. The cultured cells had good proliferative capacity and could therefore be a useful cell source for tissue-engineered hair follicles, vessels, and skin.     

Aging of hair follicle stem cells and their niches

Hair follicles in the skin undergo cyclic rounds of regeneration, degeneration, and rest throughout life. Stem cells residing in hair follicles play a pivotal role in maintaining tissue homeostasis and hair growth cycles. Research on hair follicle aging and age-related hair loss has demonstrated that a decline in hair follicle stem cell (HFSC) activity with aging can decrease the regeneration capacity of hair follicles. This review summarizes our understanding of how age-associated HFSC intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms can induce HFSC aging and hair loss. In addition, we discuss approaches developed to attenuate age-associated changes in HFSCs and their niches, thereby promoting hair regrowth.     

Epidermal stem cells and skin tissue engineering in hair follicle regeneration

The reconstitution of a fully organized and functional hair follicle from dissociated cells propagated under defined tissue culture conditions is a challenge still pending in tissue engineering. The loss of hair follicles caused by injuries or pathologies such as alopecia not only affects the patients’ psychological well-being, but also endangers certain inherent functions of the skin. It is then of great interest to find different strategies aiming to regenerate or neogenerate the hair follicle under conditions proper of an adult individual. Based upon current knowledge on the epithelial and dermal cells and their interactions during the embryonic hair generation and adult hair cycling, many researchers have tried to obtain mature hair follicles using different strategies and approaches depending on the causes of hair loss. This review summarizes current advances in the different experimental strategies to regenerate or neogenerate hair follicles, with emphasis on those involving neogenesis of hair follicles in adult individuals using isolated cells and tissue engineering. Most of these experiments were performed using rodent cells, particularly from embryonic or newborn origin. However, no successful strategy to generate human hair follicles from adult cells has yet been reported. This review identifies several issues that should be considered to achieve this objective. Perhaps the most important challenge is to provide three-dimensional culture conditions mimicking the structure of living tissue. Improving culture conditions that allow the expansion of specific cells while protecting their inductive properties, as well as methods for selecting populations of epithelial stem cells, should give us the necessary tools to overcome the difficulties that constrain human hair follicle neogenesis. An analysis of patent trends shows that the number of patent applications aimed at hair follicle regeneration and neogenesis has been increasing during the last decade. This field is attractive not only to academic researchers but also to the companies that own almost half of the patents in this field.     

Towards expansion of human hair follicle stem cells in vitro

Objectives: Multipotential human hair follicle stem cells can differentiate into various cell lineages and thus are investigated here as potential autologous sources for regenerative medicine. Towards this end, we have attempted to expand these cells, directly isolated from minimal amounts of hair follicle explants, to numbers more suitable for stem‐cell therapy. Materials and methods: Two types of human follicle stem cells, commercially available and directly isolated, were cultured using an in‐house developed medium. The latter was obtained from bulge areas of hair follicles by mechanical and enzymatic dissociation, and was magnetically enriched for its CD200⁺ fraction. Isolated cells were cultured for up to 4 weeks, on different supports: blank polystyrene, laminin‐ and Matrigel^TM‐coated surfaces. Results: Two‐fold expansion was found, highlighting the slow‐cycling nature of these cells. Flow cytometry characterization revealed: magnetic enrichment increased the proportion of CD200⁺ cells from initially 43.3% (CD200+, CD34: 25.8%; CD200+, CD34+: 17.5%) to 78.2% (CD200+, CD34: 41.5%; CD200+, CD34+: 36.7%). Enriched cells seemed to have retained and passed on their morphological and molecular phenotypes to their progeny, as isolated CD200⁺ presenting cells expanded in our medium to a population with 80% of cells being CD200⁺: 51.5% (CD200⁺, CD34^?) and 29.6% (CD200⁺, CD34⁺). Conclusions: This study demonstrates the possibility of culturing human hair follicle stem cells without causing any significant changes to phenotypes of the cells.     

Proriatic hair follicle cells

Calmodulin levels were measured by radioimmuno-assay in freshly isolated and cultured psoriatic human scalp hair follicle cells. The mean value ± SEM for calmodulin was 1.97±0.15 ng calmodulin g^-1 protein for 16 control subjects whereas calmodulin levels were significantly increased in psoriatic hair follicles, 2.93±0.26 ng calmodulin g^-1 protein (uninvolved skin) for 18 patients and 3.09±0.21 ng calmodulin g^-1 protein for involved skin derived hair follicles for 17 of these patients. In vitro, 3-week-old cultures of psoriatic keratinocytes contained less DNA and more calmodulin per DNA than their normal counterparts. When 6 week-old cultures of psoriatic and control hair follicle keratinocytes were compared, this difference disappeared. These results are related to the state of differentiation of these cultures.     

Keratinocyte stem cells of cornea,skin and hair follicle: common and distinguishing features

Tissues which undergo constant regeneration have developed a complex and tightly regulated system of replication and differentiation. The most primitive progenitor cells in these populations are termed stem cells. Much has been learned in recent years about the nature of stem cells and the dynamics of their replication, especially within hematopoietic tissues. This paper will define eight general features of stem cells, as they have been characterized in hematopoietic populations, and then review their presence in several keratinocyte populations, including corneal epithelium, interfollicular epidermis and hair follicle. Finally, this review will raise several important questions that remain unanswered about the nature of keratinocyte stem cells and hopefully will be the focus of future research.     

Quantitative proliferation dynamics and random chromosome segregation of hair follicle stem cells

Regulation of stem cell (SC) proliferation is central to tissue homoeostasis, injury repair, and cancer development. Accumulation of replication errors in SCs is limited by either infrequent division and/or by chromosome sorting to retain preferentially the oldest 'immortal' DNA strand. The frequency of SC divisions and the chromosome-sorting phenomenon are difficult to examine accurately with existing methods. To address this question, we developed a strategy to count divisions of hair follicle (HF) SCs over time, and provide the first quantitative proliferation history of a tissue SC during its normal homoeostasis. We uncovered an unexpectedly high cellular turnover in the SC compartment in one round of activation. Our study provides quantitative data in support of the long-standing infrequent SC division model, and shows that HF SCs do not retain the older DNA strands or sort their chromosome. This new ability to count divisions in vivo has relevance for obtaining basic knowledge of tissue kinetics.