Ob-Rb: Long isoform of leptin receptor. Ob-Ra, Ob-RcÖOb-Rf: Short isoforms of leptin receptor. FSH: Follicle stimulating hormone. IGF-I: Insulin-like growth factor type 1. BCL-2: B-cell lymphoma 2. Bax: Bcl-2-associated X protein. DMEM: Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium. ER: Estrogen receptor alpha. ER: Estrogen receptor beta. AR: Androgen receptor. LHR: Luteinizing hormone receptor. FSHR: Folli...

The ovarian follicle is the functional unit of the ovary that secretes sex hormones and supports oocyte maturation. In vitro follicle techniques provide a tool to model follicle development in order to investigate basic biology, and are further being developed as a technique to preserve fertility in the clinic. Our in vitro culture system employs hydrogels in order to mimic the native ovarian e...

Mutations in WNT effector genes perturb hair follicle morphogenesis, suggesting key roles for WNT proteins in this process. We show that expression of Wnts 10b and 10a is upregulated in placodes at the onset of follicle morphogenesis and in postnatal hair follicles beginning a new cycle of hair growth. The expression of additional Wnt genes is observed in follicles at later stages of differenti...

Adult mammalian epidermis contains multiple stem cell populations in which quiescent and more proliferative stem and progenitor populations coexist. However, the precise interrelation of these populations in homeostasis remains unclear. Here, we blocked the contribution of quiescent keratin 19 (K19)-expressing bulge stem cells to hair follicle formation through genetic ablation of the essential...

Infertility in women is a health priority. Designing a robust culture protocol capable of attaining complete follicle growth is an exciting challenge, for its potential clinical applications, but also as a model to observe and closely study the sequence of molecular events that lie behind the intricate relationship existing between the oocyte and surrounding follicle cells. Here, we describe th...

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...

A highly purified follicle-stimulating hormone from human pituitary glands has been prepared by ammonium sulfate and ethanol fractionation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-100, ion exchange chromatography on carboxymethyl cellulose, zone electrophoresis on cellulose columns, and preparative continuous flow polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The final product has shown lO,OOO-fold purification ove...

A highly purified follicle-stimulating hormone from human pituitary glands has been prepared by ammonium sulfate and ethanol fractionation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-100, ion exchange chromatography on carboxymethyl cellulose, zone electrophoresis on cellulose columns, and preparative continuous flow polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The final product has shown lO,OOO-fold purification ove...

Initiation of growth of resting ovarian follicles is a key phenomenon for providing an adequate number of mature oocytes in each ovulation, while preventing premature exhaustion of primordial follicle reserve during the reproductive lifespan. Resting follicle dynamics strongly suggest that primordial follicles are under constant inhibitory influences, by mechanisms and factors whose nature rema...