Wound-Induced Hair Neogenesis: A Novel Paradigm for Studying Regeneration and Aging
October 2020
in “
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
”
TLDR Wounds can regenerate hair in young mice, but this ability declines with age, offering insights for improving tissue regeneration in the elderly.
The document from October 15, 2020, reviews wound-induced hair neogenesis (WIHN), a process where hair follicles regenerate during the healing of large wounds in mammals, and its relationship with aging. It explains that while young mice exhibit strong WIHN, the regenerative ability in aged mice is less clear, with older mice showing poorer wound healing and potential aberrant hair follicle renewal cycles. The review also notes that the number of hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) does not significantly change with age, but their regenerative capacity and the microenvironment do, with aged HFSCs experiencing changes in expression profiles and a decrease in supportive fibroblast density. Key signaling pathways like Wnt/ß-Catenin, Hedgehog, and IL-6/STAT3 are essential for hair follicle development and regeneration, with the latter also implicated in the reduced wound healing in aged mice. The document concludes that understanding the decline in regenerative capacity with age through WIHN could lead to interventions to improve regeneration in aging tissues.
