title: Characterization of multipotent cells from human adult hair follicles.
abstract: Recent works demonstrated the presence of a multipotent epithelial cell population in the bulge region of adult human hair follicles. These cells can be cultured in vitro, thus leading to the preparation of dermal-epidermal substitutes which are applicable in the treatment of burns and ulcers. We evaluated the main marker expression in cells obtained from stripped human hair follicles. A pool of hair follicles were incubated at 37 degrees C and 5% CO(2) in a growth medium. The cells were then labelled with antibodies (anti-CD34, anti-CD38, anti-CD45, anti-CD90, anti-CD133, anti-CD146) and analysed by cytometry. We also used hair follicles for immunohistochemical studies, employing antibodies such as CD34, Actin Smooth Muscle, Filaggrin, Desmin, Vimentin, Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein, Ki-67, PanCytokeratin, CK15, CK19. The cytometry results revealed that a part of bulge cells were CD34+ (1-2%). CD34+ population comprises both large, CD45-, CD133-, CD146- cells and small, CD45+, CD133+, CD146+ cells. Thus, a part of CD34+ cells present a mature endothelial marker (CD146). An expression of the proliferation marker Ki-67 and the stem cell marker CD34 is present in the follicle bulge region. In conclusion, we observed that the stripped hair follicle has the same multipotent cell population as adult and fetal scalp hair follicles.
authors.affiliation: DICMI, University of Genoa, Italy. raposio@unige.it
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raposio
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guida
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Baldelli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Curto
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fiocca
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kunkl
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Robello
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Santi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000032:analysis; D000091344:Filaggrin Proteins; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053569:Keratin-15 / Q000032:analysis; D053539:Keratin-19 / Q000032:analysis; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D018952:Antigens, CD34; C000717249:FLG protein, human; D000091344:Filaggrin Proteins; D053569:Keratin-15; D053539:Keratin-19; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen