Using conditional gene targeting in mice, we show that BMP receptor IA is essential for the differentiation of progenitor cells of the inner root sheath and hair shaft. Without BMPRIA activation, GATA-3 is down-regulated and its regulated control of IRS differentiation is compromised. In contrast, Lef1 is up-regulated, but its regulated control of hair differentiation is still blocked, and BMPR...

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...

Epithelial stem cells (EpSCs) in the hair follicle bulge are required for hair follicle growth and cycling. The isolation and propagation of human EpSCs for tissue engineering purposes remains a challenge. Here we develop a strategy to differentiate human iPSCs (hiPSCs) into CD200(+)/ITGA6(+) EpSCs that can reconstitute the epithelial components of the hair follicle and interfollicular epidermi...

Little is known about the function of desmosomes in the normal structure and function of hair. Therefore, it was surprising that mice without desmoglein 3 (the autoantigen in pemphigus vulgaris) not only developed mucous membrane and skin lesions like pemphigus patients, but also developed hair loss. Analysis of this phenotype indicated that hair was normal through the first growth phase ('foll...

OBJECTIVE To establish the unique and common clinical and microscopic characteristics of the alopecias associated with vitamin D-dependent rickets (VDDR) type IIA and with hairless gene mutations. DESIGN A comparative clinical, histologic, and immunohistochemical study of the alopecias in 6 patients with VDDR IIA and 4 patients with atrichia with papular lesions (APL) and/or alopecia universa...

Topically applicable non-drug hair growth-promoting agents are of major medical and consumer interest. We have shown that stimulation the olfactory receptor (OR), OR2AT4, by odorant Sandalore®, prolongs human growth ex vivo, slows loss in telogen effluvium patients vivo. Here, we asked whether another OR, i.e. OR2A4/7, which promotes epidermal keratinocyte proliferation, unfolds similar propert...

Hair loss is a prevalent medical condition affecting both genders. In this study, we investigate the effects of specific class extracellular vesicles (EVs), namely human normal fibroblast-derived EVs (hFB-EVs), on dermal papilla (DP) and outer root sheath (ORS) cells examine molecular mechanisms responsible for hair growth in follicles (HFs). We find that Wnt3a, which maintains hair-generating ...

During the past few years, researchers and practitioners have developed novel techniques, using ansa cervicalis to innervate muscles of the larynx paralyzed due to surgical procedures carried out in the chest and neck areas. During routine dissection of a middle-age male cadaver, an unusual course of the superior root of the ansa cervicalis was observed. In this case, the su...