Characterization and functional analysis of Wnt3a during hair follicle development in the Angora rabbit (<em>Oryctolagus cuniculus</em>)

Hair follicle development is an extremely complex process regulated by multiple factors. Previously we identified that Wnt3a, a signaling protein of the Wnt family, can promote hair follicle stem cell (HFSC) proliferation and suppress apoptosis via the signaling pathway of Wnt/β-catenin. However, the influence of Wnt3a on the dermal papilla cells (DPCs) is still undetermined. In this study, rabbit gene Wnt3a CDS was cloned, and the overexpression and siRNA knockdown were performed. The bioinformatic analysis of Wnt3a shows that it has hydrophobicity and a signal peptide. Wnt3a overexpression and knockdown markedly elevated and reduced its mRNA expression, and the signaling pathway of Wnt/β-catenin genes, including <em>CCND1</em>, <em>CTNNB1</em>, <em>C-JUN</em>, <em>LEF1</em>, <em>FOSL1</em>, and <em>MYC</em> (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.01). Furthermore, Wnt3a substantially promoted DPCs’ proliferation and suppressed apoptosis (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.01). Wnt3a overexpression also affected the expression of LEF1 and MYC proteins. Our results indicate that Wnt3a promotes Wnt/β-catenin signaling in DPCs. This study provides a theoretical foundation on the association of Wnt3a with hair growth and development.