Comparative gene expression analysis of 2 subpopulations of dermal papilla cells.

Different types of hair follicles can be found in the skin of mice. It is believed that the signals that control hair follicle differentiation arise from cells in a structure called the dermal papilla. Understanding the nature of those signals is of interest for the biology of the normal tissue. We have developed a technique for isolation of dermal cells by enzymatic digestion of intact skin. We have identified two subpopulations of cells that can be separated by FACS. The Sox2-positive CD133-positive cells are found exclusively in the dermal papillae of guard/awl/auchene hairs, while Sox2-negative, CD133-positive cells are found in the other hair follicle types. We compared these populations with unfractionated dermal cells. We isolated the following 3 populations of cells from the back skin of neonatal mice (P2) by Flow Cytometry: 1) GFP-CD133- Total dermal cells 2) GFP-CD133+ Dermal Papilla cells 3) GFP+CD133+ Dermal Papilla cells The yield is approximately 50,000 cells of each population.

小鼠皮肤中存在多种类型的毛囊。目前认为，调控毛囊分化的信号源自一种被称为真皮乳头（dermal papilla）的结构内的细胞。解析此类信号的本质对于正常组织的生物学研究具有重要价值。本研究团队开发了一种通过完整皮肤酶解消化法分离真皮细胞的技术，并鉴定出可通过荧光激活细胞分选术（FACS）分离的两类细胞亚群：Sox2阳性、CD133阳性的细胞仅特异性分布于护卫毛、针毛及芒毛的真皮乳头中，而Sox2阴性、CD133阳性的细胞则存在于其余类型的毛囊内。我们将这两类细胞亚群与未分选的真皮细胞进行了对比分析。

本研究通过流式细胞术（Flow Cytometry）从新生小鼠（出生后第2天，P2）的背部皮肤中分离得到以下3类细胞群：
1) 绿色荧光蛋白（Green Fluorescent Protein, GFP）阴性、CD133阴性的总真皮细胞
2) GFP阴性、CD133阳性的真皮乳头细胞
3) GFP阳性、CD133阳性的真皮乳头细胞
每类细胞群的细胞得率约为50000个。