A correlation between versican and neurofilament expression patterns during the development and adult cycling of rat vibrissa follicles.
Versican, a proteoglycan recently implicated in hair follicle induction, has been shown to influence axon outgrowth in vitro and in vivo. We used immunohistochemistry to study the relationship between versican expression and innervation, during rat vibrissa follicle development and the adult hair cycle. During development, nerve fibres were commonly associated with areas of weak versican expression, and the path of axons appeared to be delineated by sharp boundaries of versican expression. Versican expression changed in the lower follicle dermis during the adult hair follicle cycle but remained strong around the follicle neck reflecting the constant innervation. Our observations show a correlation between versican expression and peripheral innervation indicating that versican may have a dual role in hair follicle biology.
Biological Sciences Department, University of Durham, South Road, DH1 3LE, Durham, UK. s.j.harris@durham.ac.uk
S J
SJ
Harris
C A
CA
Jahoda
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism; D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000294:innervation; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D037181:Lectins, C-Type; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051381:Rats; D013997:Time Factors; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D053675:Versicans; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism
D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans; D037181:Lectins, C-Type; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins; C508324:Vcan protein, rat; D053675:Versicans