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...

Follicle growth and associated changes in circulating hormone concentrations were evaluated after follicle ablation in mares (n = 13) during four 13 day periods beginning at means of -98.5, -61.4, -26.0 and 10 days from the first ovulation and corresponding to mid-anovulatory, early-transitional, late-transitional and ovulatory periods, respectively. During each period, all follicles > 5 mm in ...

In prepuberal mouse ovaries oocytes in the non-growing pool show constant but low levels of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity. The first event in the initiation of oocyte growth is a marked stimulation of RNA polymerase activity in the oocyte nucleolus. This is followed by increases in oocyte area, oocyte nucleolar area, oocyte nuclear area and nucleoplasmic RNA synthesis in that sequence. ...

BACKGROUND Cyclins regulate the cell cycle in association with cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs). CDKs are under inhibitory control of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKIs). METHOD In this study we tested the expression of CDKIs p15, p16, p21 and p27 by immunohistochemistry to determine the role of CDKIs in the initiation of primordial follicle growth. Ovaries were collected from 60-day-ol...

Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) and polycystic ovarian syndrome are ovarian diseases causing infertility. Although there is no effective treatment for POI, therapies for polycystic ovarian syndrome include ovarian wedge resection or laser drilling to induce follicle growth. Underlying mechanisms for these disruptive procedures are unclear. Here, we explored the role of the conserved Hippo s...

BACKGROUND Nitric oxide (NO) is a cell messenger with multiple actions in different biological systems, implicated in the control of follicle and oocyte function. NO is formed from L-arginine by isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) via NG-hydroxy-L-arginine, with L-citrulline as a byproduct. This study aimed to show how modulation of NO by manipulating NOS substrates would affect mouse folli...

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase and mTOR signaling is important in regulating cell growth and proliferation. Recent studies using oocyte- and granulosa cell-specific deletion of mTOR inhibitor genes TSC1 or TSC2 demonstrated the important role of mTOR signaling in the promotion of ovarian follicle development. We now report that treatment of ovaries from juveni...

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...

Previous molecular genetic studies of the goat hair life cycle have focused primarily on a limited number of genes and proteins. To identify additional genes that may play important roles in hair follicle cycle regulation, Illumina sequencing technology was used to catalog differential gene expression profiles in the hair growth cycle (anagen to catagen) of goat, comparing the primary hair foll...