Hair Follicle Stem Cells

Abstract: Hair follicle stem cells are considered to be slow cycling cells endowed with a superior proliferative capacity and clonogenicity. They are morphologically and biochemically primitive， and frequently mulitpotent. Using stem cell-labeling techniques and the clonogenicity assay， most of the hair follicle stem cells are found at the bulge region， a portion in the outer root sheath of the hair follicle， which is at the insertion site of the arrector pili muscle. The potential markers of hair follicle stem cells include β1-integrin， α6-integrin， CD71， keratin 19， p63， CD34. The markers of cells in vitro are not identical to those in vivo. The putative bulge stem cells can differentiate into epidermis， outer root sheath， inner root sheath， hair shafts and sebaceous glands. They also have the capability to form multiple cell lineages during development. Many hypotheses have been proposed for the development of stem cells in hair follicle morphogenesis and hair cycling， including the hypothesis of bulge activation and the hypothesis of stem cell migration. At present， hair follicle stem cells are mainly used in preparation of skin substitutes. Much work needs to be done to further understand follicle stem cells.
    

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2007.04.0001