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Updated: May 17, 2026
08:26
Isolation and Culture of Adult Epithelial Stem Cells from Human Skin
Published on: March 31, 2011
Epithelial stem cells and implications for wound repair.
Maksim V Plikus1, Denise L Gay, Elsa Treffeisen
1Department of Dermatology, Kligman Laboratories, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology
|October 23, 2012
Summary
Hair follicle stem cells contribute to wound healing by generating new epidermal cells. Some stem cells in the hair follicle isthmus can even form new hair follicles in adult skin.
Area of Science:
- Regenerative medicine
- Dermatology
- Stem cell biology
Background:
- Cutaneous wound healing relies on epithelial stem cell activation and progeny recruitment.
- Re-epithelialized wound epidermis comprises cells from both epidermal and hair follicle stem cells.
- Hair follicle stem cell contribution to wound epidermis involves a lineage identity change.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the distinct contributions of different hair follicle stem cell populations to wound healing.
- To explore the potential of epithelial cells in large cutaneous wounds to regenerate hair follicles.
Main Methods:
- Tracking the progeny of specific hair follicle stem cell populations in healing wounds.
- Analyzing the contribution of stem cells to the wound epidermis over time.
- Observing regenerative processes in large cutaneous wound models.
Main Results:
- Hair follicle-isthmus stem cells provide long-lasting progeny to wound epidermis and may generate new epidermal stem cells.
- Hair follicle-bulge stem cells produce transient epidermal progeny that are eventually outcompeted.
- Epithelial cells in large wounds can undergo hair follicle neogenesis with underlying dermal cells.
Conclusions:
- Distinct hair follicle stem cell populations have different roles in wound re-epithelialization.
- Isthmus stem cells are crucial for long-term wound epidermis regeneration and potentially interfollicular stem cell renewal.
- Adult cutaneous wound regeneration can involve de novo hair follicle formation, a process with embryonic-like characteristics.
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