title: Substantial sex-dependent differences in the response of human scalp hair follicles to estrogen stimulation in vitro advocate gender-tailored management of female versus male pattern balding.
abstract: In this study, it was investigated how estrogens (17-beta-estradiol, E2) affect the estrogen receptor (ER) expression and gene regulation of male versus female human scalp hair follicles in vitro. Anagen VI follicles from frontotemporal scalp skin were microdissected and organ-cultured for up to 9 d in the presence of E2 (1-100 nm). Immunohistochemistry was performed for ERbeta-expression, known to be predominant in human scalp hair follicles, and for TGF-beta2-expression (as negative key hair growth modulator), and E2-responsive genes in organ-cultured human scalp hair follicles (48 h, 10 nM) were explored by cDNA microarray, using a commercial skin focus chip (Memorec, Cologne, Germany). The distribution pattern of ERbeta and TGF-beta2-immunoreactivity differed between male and female hair follicles after 48 h culture. Of 1300 genes tested, several genes were regulated sex-dependent differently. The study reveals substantial sex-dependent differences in the response of frontotemporal human scalp hair follicles to E2. Recognition and systematic dissection of the E2-dependent gene regulation will be crucial for the development of more effective, gender-tailored management strategies for female versus male pattern balding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ohnemus
authors.forename: Enikö
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bodo
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Biro
authors.forename: Birte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tychsen
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gerstmayer
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bosio
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Rose
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Altgilbers
authors.forename: Albrecht
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bettermann
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saathoff
authors.forename: Wilfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paus
mesh_terms: D000505:Alopecia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy; D004958:Estradiol / Q000378:metabolism*; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D004967:Estrogens / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012535:Scalp / Q000378:metabolism*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta; D004967:Estrogens; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D004958:Estradiol