Characterization of Hair Follicles in Hirosaki Hairless Rats with Deletion of Basic Hair Keratin Genes. Enlarged Medulla, Loss of Cuticle and Long Catagen

    Miki Akita, Naoki Nanashima, Toshiyuki Yamada, Hajime Nakano, Takeshi Shimizu, Fan Yang, Shigeki Tsuchida
    TLDR Hirosaki hairless rats have sparse, twisted hair due to missing hair keratin genes.
    The study characterized hair follicles in Hirosaki hairless rats (HHR), which had a deletion of basic hair keratin genes, leading to sparse and twisted hairs. Compared to Sprague-Dawley rats (SDR), HHR hair follicles entered the catagen phase earlier, experienced massive destruction, and showed inflammatory cell infiltration. The HHR hair medulla was enlarged, the inner root sheath thinned, and the cuticle was lost, while the hair cortex formed where Kb25 was expressed. These findings suggested that the hypotrichosis in HHR was due to the deletion of hair keratin genes and the expression of a keratin fusion gene, making HHR a useful model for studying hair keratin roles in hair follicle formation.
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