Posted on: October 21, 2004
A new controversial study is published by Dr. Hoffman and his lab.
It is known that bulge contains stem cells that are capable of producing hair matrix, sebaceous glad and epidermis. But does hair follicle contain stem cells other then epithelial? Can hair follicle normally serve as the source of extra-follicular tissues?
Dr. Hoffman attempted to determine presence of the neural progenitor cells in the hair follicles. To do so, he used transgenic mouse in which all cells that produce Nestin protein, a marker of the central neural system and neuronal stem cells, light up with green fluorescence.
In hair follicle cells producing nestin are found in the bulge - established source of epithelial stem cells. In skin, nestin producing cells are also seen in the blood vessels.
In his experiments, Dr. Hoffman established that vibrissa hair follicles form the transgenic mice produce new green blood vessels around them and therefore serve as the source of the stem cells for the new blood vessels.
Based on: Nascent blood vessels in the skin arise from nestin-expressing hair-follicle cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004.
By: Amoh Y, Li L, Yang M, Moossa AR, Katsuoka K, Penman S, Hoffman RM. |
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