title: Wnt3a promotes melanin synthesis of mouse hair follicle melanocytes.
abstract: Although the importance of Wnt3a in melanocyte development has been well recognized, the effect of Wnt3a in normal HF melanocytes has not been clearly elucidated yet. Thus, we sought to examine the presence and location of Wnt3a in HF during hair cycle. By using melanocyte-targeted Dct-LacZ transgenic mice, we found that Wnt3a signaling is activated in mouse HF melanocytes during anagen of hair cycle. To further explore the potential functions of Wnt3a in mouse melanocytes, we infected melan-a cells with AdWnt3a to serve as the production source of Wnt3a protein. We demonstrated that Wnt3a promoted melanogenesis through upregulation of MITF and its downstream genes, tyrosinase and TRP1, in melanocytes. In vivo, AdWnt3a rescued the effects of AdsimMITF on HF melanocytes and promoted melanin synthesis. Our results suggest that Wnt3a plays an important role in mouse HF melanocytes homeostasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China.
authors.forename: Haiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Jixing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Yizhan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Yuhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaohua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008543:Melanins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D060508:Wnt3 Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D008543:Melanins; D060508:Wnt3 Protein; C555508:Wnt3 protein, mouse; D001616:beta-Galactosidase