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Updated: May 2, 2026

Rapid Genetic Analysis of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Signaling During Hair Regeneration
Published on: February 28, 2013
A role of placental growth factor in hair growth
Sun-Young Yoon1, Ji-Seon Yoon1, Seong Jin Jo1
1Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Institute of Human-Environment Interface Biology, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Laboratory of Cutaneous Aging and Hair Research, Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Background:
The dermal papilla (DP) comprises specialized mesenchymal cells at the bottom of the hair follicle and plays a pivotal role in hair formation, anagen induction and the hair cycle. In this study, DPs were isolated from human hair follicles and serially subcultured. From each subculture at passages 1, 3, and 5 (n=4), we compared gene expression profiles using mRNA sequencing. Among the growth factors that were down-regulated in later passages of human DP cells (hDPCs), placental growth factor (PlGF) was selected.
Objective:
To elucidate the effect of PlGF on hair growth.
Methods:
We evaluated the effect of PlGF on hDPCs and on ex vivo hair organ culture. We investigated the effect of PlGF on an in vivo model of depilation-induced hair regeneration.
Results:
We confirmed that the mRNA and protein expression levels of PlGF significantly decreased following subculture of the cells. It was shown that PlGF enhanced hair shaft elongation in ex vivo hair organ culture. Furthermore, PlGF significantly accelerated hair follicle growth and markedly prolonged anagen hair growth in an in vivo model of depilation-induced hair regeneration. PlGF prevented cell death by increasing the levels of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and cyclin D1 and promoted survival by up-regulation of phosphorylated Akt and Bcl2, as determined by Western blotting.
Conclusion:
Our results suggest that PlGF plays a role in the promotion of hair growth and therefore may serve as an additional therapeutic target for the treatment of alopecia.
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