The Skin POMC System (SPS): Leads and Lessons from the Hair Follicle

    October 1999 in “ Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences ”
    Ralf Paus, Vladimir A. Botchkarev, Natalia V. Botchkareva, Lars Mecklenburg, Thomas A. Luger, Andrzej Słomiński
    TLDR The Skin POMC System affects hair growth and skin responses to stress.
    The document from 1999 discusses the Skin POMC System (SPS) and its role in hair follicle function. It was found that human and murine skin, which are sources and targets for POMC products like ACTH, alpha-MSH, and beta-endorphin, show fluctuating levels of these products during the hair growth cycle in mice. These POMC products may act as growth modulators for the hair, as evidenced by hair growth induction through ACTH injections in mice and mink, and modulation of keratinocyte proliferation in skin organ culture. Additionally, ACTH and alpha-MSH, along with their receptors, may help maintain the immune privilege of the hair bulb in its growth phase and be involved in the development of the follicle's pigmentary unit. The expression of CRH and CRH-R, which regulate pituitary POMC and can arrest hair follicles in the resting phase, suggests a hair-cycle-dependent local skin POMC system that could be part of the skin's stress response. This system is proposed to be best studied using the murine hair cycle as a model.
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