Upregulation of Interfollicular Epidermal and Hair Infundibulum β-Catenin Expression in Gsdma3 Mutant Mice

In the 2013 study, the effects of the Gsdma3 gene mutation on skin and hair follicle morphology were examined in mice. The researchers found that Gsdma3 mutant mice had thickened skin and elongated hair infundibula, with a significant increase in β-catenin expression in the epidermis at all postnatal stages. Immunofluorescence staining, Western blot analysis, and RT-PCR analysis confirmed that both Gsdma3 and β-catenin had similar spatial expression profiles and that β-catenin levels were upregulated in the mutant mice. The study, which measured 60 hair follicles per time point and used four mice per time point, suggested that Gsdma3 negatively regulates β-catenin expression, playing a crucial role in skin and hair morphogenesis. The mutation in Gsdma3 disrupts this regulation, leading to increased β-catenin expression, skin hyperplasia, and proliferation of hair infundibula. The research was funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China and other programs.