Tight Junctions Form a Barrier in Porcine Hair Follicles

February 2016 in “ European journal of cell biology ”

Christiane Mathes, Johanna M. Brandner, Michael Laue, Simon Sebastian Raesch, Steffi Hansen, Antonio Virgilio Failla, Sabine Vidal, Ingrid Moll, Ulrich F. Schaefer, Claus‐Michael Lehr

tight junctions Cldn-1 Cldn-4 Ocln ZO-1 infundibulum suprabulbar region outer root sheath Huxley's layer inner root sheath EDTA stratum corneum nanoparticles permeability hair follicles

TLDR Tight junctions create a barrier in pig hair follicles that controls what can enter the skin.

In this study, researchers investigated the presence and functionality of tight junctions (TJs) in porcine hair follicles (HFs). They found that TJs, specifically proteins Cldn-1, -4, Ocln, and ZO-1, were present from the infundibulum down to the suprabulbar region of the outer root sheath (ORS) and in Huxley's layer of the inner root sheath (IRS). These TJs formed a barrier that could be modulated using EDTA. The study also demonstrated that nanoparticles applied to the skin were mostly found in areas with both stratum corneum (SC) and TJ barriers, and less so in deeper regions where only TJs were present. This indicated that TJs play a significant role in regulating the permeability of substances in hair follicles.

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