Neural Potential of a Stem Cell Population in the Hair Follicle

Abstract

The bulge region of the hair follicle serves as a repository for epithelial stem cells that can regenerate the follicle in each hair growth cycle and contribute to epidermis regeneration upon injury. Here we describe a population of multipotential stem cells in the hair follicle bulge region; these cells can be identified by fluorescence in transgenic nestin-GFP mice. The morphological features of these cells suggest that they maintain close associations with each other and with the surrounding niche. Upon explantation, these cells can give rise to neurosphere-like structures in vitro. When these cells are permitted to differentiate, they produce several cell types, including cells with neuronal, astrocytic, oligodendrocytic, smooth muscle, adipocytic, and other phenotypes. Furthermore, upon implantation into the developing nervous system of chick, these cells generate neuronal cells in vivo. We used transcriptional profiling to assess the relationship between these cells and embryonic and postnatal neural stem cells and to compare them with other stem cell populations of the bulge. Our results show that nestin-expressing cells in the bulge region of the hair follicle have stem cell-like properties, are multipotent, and can effectively generate cells of neural lineage in vitro and in vivo.

Adrenal cortical and chromaffin stem cells: Is there a common progeny related to stress adaptation?

“…All Nestin-GFP cells isolated from either the adrenal medulla or cortex were included in spheres when cultured under low-attachment conditions, which is equivalent to what has been observed with Nestin-GFP cells from this mouse model in other tissues (Birbrair et al, 2011;Day et al, 2007;El-Helou et al, 2013;Li et al, 2003;Mignone et al, 2004;Mignone et al, 2007).…”

Clonal precursor of bone, cartilage, and hematopoietic niche stromal cells

“…In fact, nestin did not appear to be a specific marker for stromal cells, as we observed that nestin expression spans many types of tissues, both mature and immature, in bone marrow and other tissues (SI Appendix, Fig. S12) (38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43).…”

Multipotent nestin-expressing stem cells capable of forming neurons are located in the upper, middle and lower part of the vibrissa hair follicle

“…Transgenic mice carrying GFP under the control of the nestin promoter (ND-GFP 1,17 ) were used as a source of nestin-expressing hair follicle stem cells. All animal experiments were conducted according to the Guidelines for Animal Experimentation at Kitasato University.…”

“…They can be readily expanded in culture after isolation from the patient's hair follicle. Amoh et al, 8,11 Liu et al, 6 Mignone et al 17 and Sieber-Blum et al 2 have shown that nestin-expressing cells of the mouse hair follicle are multipotent. Yu et al 13,14 and Amoh et al 8,11 have shown that nestin-expressing cells of the human hair follicle are multipotent, suggesting their clinical potential.…”