Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Inhibits Skin Renewal Through Inhibiting WNT-Dependent Lgr5+ Hair Follicle Stem Cell Activation in C57BL/6 Mice

The study involved two groups of seven-week-old male C57BL/6 mice, one with induced Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and a control group. The results showed that T2DM inhibits hair follicle regeneration and skin cell proliferation, with the T2DM mice having smaller hair follicles, reduced skin thickness, and less expression of PCNA and K14, important cell proliferation biomarkers. The study concluded that T2DM inhibits skin renewal and hair follicle regeneration by suppressing WNT-dependent Lgr5 hair follicle stem cell activation, which could be a key reason for reduced skin renewal ability and chronic wound formation in diabetes. The study suggests that finding a mechanism to resist the inhibitory effects of diabetes on these stem cells may lead to new drug development. However, the study's limitations include a small group size, the use of only male mice, and a short research period.