The Vitamin D Receptor Is Required for Mouse Hair Cycle Progression but Not for Maintenance of the Epidermal Stem Cell Compartment
TLDR Vitamin D Receptor is needed for hair growth in mice but not for skin stem cell maintenance.
The study concluded that the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) was essential for hair cycle progression in mice but not for maintaining the epidermal stem cell compartment. VDR-null mice exhibited post-natal hair loss, hair follicle degeneration, and conversion into epidermal cysts due to impaired keratinocyte migration and lack of dermal papilla association. Despite a reduction in CD34/α6 double-positive keratinocytes, their clonal growth ability was not impaired, and label-retaining cells (LRCs) in VDR-null hair follicles responded to proliferative stimuli. The findings suggested that VDR played a role in regulating cell cycle genes and epidermal lineage selection.
