Characterization of rat hair follicle stem cells selected by vario magnetic activated cell sorting system

Hair follicle stem cells (HfSCs) play crucial roles in hair follicle morphogenesis and hair cycling. These stem cells are self-renewable and have the multi-lineage potential to generate epidermis, sebaceous glands, and hair follicle. The separation and identification of hair follicle stem cells are important for further research in stem cell biology. In this study, we report on the successful enrichment of rat hair follicle stem cells through vario magnetic activated cell sorting (Vario MACS) and the biological characteristics of the stem cells. We chose the HfSCs positive surface markers CD34, alpha 6-integrin and the negative marker CD71 to design four isolation strategies: positive selection with single marker of CD34, positive selection with single marker of alpha 6-integrin, CD71 depletion followed by CD34 positive selection, and CD71 depletion followed by alpha 6-integrin positive selection. The results of flow cytometry analysis showed that all four strategies had ideal effects. Specifically, we conducted a series of researches on HfSCs characterized by their high level of CD34, termed CD34(bri) cells, and low to undetectable expression of CD34, termed CD34(dim) cells. CD34(bri) cells had greater proliferative potential and higher colony-forming ability than CD34(dim) cells. Furthermore, CD34(bri) cells had some typical characteristics as progenitor cells, such as large nucleus, obvious nucleolus, large nuclear:cytoplasmic ratio and few cytoplasmic organelles. Our findings clearly demonstrated that HfSCs with high purity and viability could be successfully enriched with Vario MACS.