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

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. Overall design: 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.