Fgf18 regulates hair cycle. Mus musculus

Fgf18 gene is strongly expressed in hair follicles of mouse dorsal skin during regressing (catagen) and resting (telogen) phases of hair cycle, but not in growth (anagen) phase. This study aims at identifying the function of Fgf18 in the regulation of hair cycle. Overall design: To define target genes of Fgf18 during telogen phase of hair cycle, we generated mice in which Fgf18 gene is conditionally knocked out in keratin 5-positive epithelial cells (referred to as Fgf18 cKO below). We carried out microarray experiments with mouse back skin samples harboring telogen hair follicles obtained from three 42-d-old Fgf18 cKO male mice, or from three 42-d-old C57BL/6 male mice as control. Total RNA was isolated from each mouse and further purified to polyA RNA using oligo dT30 columns. The RNA samples were pooled for each group. Gene expression was analyzed by one-color analysis using duplicate arrays for each group.