5 citations
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August 2021 in “Experimental dermatology” This study suggests that Merkel cell polyomavirus T antigen-positive cells resembling Merkel cell carcinoma may originate from epithelial cells in human hair follicles, potentially informing future transgenic mouse models for this cancer.
29 citations
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February 2013 in “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America” This study found that Merkel cell clusters require Frizzled6 signaling for their polarity information, while other hair follicle-associated structures align their orientation based on the hair follicle itself.
This study observed a high degree of plasticity in somatosensory axons innervating Merkel cells in mouse skin, finding that both axons and Merkel cells underwent dynamic remodeling, with their interactions influencing axonal branching and maturation.
This study observed that Merkel cells and their associated somatosensory axons in mouse skin exhibit significant plasticity, remodeling dynamically to maintain homeostasis. Axonal branching patterns were notably influenced by Merkel cells, suggesting epithelial-neural interactions play a key role in axonal plasticity and patterning.
In this study, highly dynamic remodeling was observed in mouse somatosensory axons and Merkel cells, indicating that epithelial-neural interactions help maintain homeostatic remodeling, with additional intrinsic neural mechanisms contributing to axonal plasticity.