title: Analysis of the cellular heterogeneity in the basal layer of mouse ear epidermis: an approach from partial decomposition in vitro and retroviral cell marking in vivo.
abstract: In the thin epidermis, the existence of epidermal proliferation units was hypothesized. Each unit is supposed to be partitioned into each column of polygonal-shaped cornified plates, estimated to contain a central stem cell in its basal layer. We attempted to verify this hypothesis in vitro by analyzing the partially decomposed fragment of mouse ear epidermis and in vivo using retroviral cell marking. Partially decomposed fragments of the mouse ear epidermis, mostly composed of cytokeratin 14-expressing basal keratinocytes, formed multicellular colonies in vitro. They were composed of heterogeneously shaped cells, morphologically resembling the cells in each single cell-derived colony, including potential stem cells with great proliferative potency in vitro. The estimated frequency of the candidates of stem cells in the fragments was much lower than the prediction from the representative hypothesis. Retroviral cell marking with nuclear localizing LacZ protein in vivo suggested the existence of a large clonal cellular unit for epidermal renewal. From these in vitro and in vivo observations, we propose a new model for the epidermal proliferation unit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Akita University School of Medicine 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita 010-8543, Japan. kameda-1@beach.och.ne.jp
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kameda
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakata
authors.forename: Taketoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mizutani
authors.forename: Kunihiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Terada
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iba
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D019070:Cell Lineage; D048429:Cell Size; D004423:Ear / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D007763:Lac Operon; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008954:Models, Biological; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*