Organ Culture of Developing Mouse Skin and Its Application for Molecular Mechanistic Studies of Morphogenesis

The document described an organ culture method for developing mouse skin, allowing tissues from 12.5- or 13.5-day postcoitus mouse embryos to develop similarly to in vivo processes. It was found that epidermal growth factor completely inhibited hair follicle formation while having minimal effects on the interfollicular epidermis. Additionally, the study demonstrated that using an adenovirus vector enabled gene transduction into epidermal and dermal cell layers without significant toxicity, providing a useful tool for molecular mechanistic studies of morphogenesis.