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Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Isolating Hair Follicle Stem Cells and Epidermal Keratinocytes from Dorsal Mouse Skin
Published on: April 29, 2016
Dynamic expression of α6 integrin indicates epidermal cell behaviors
Weiya He1, Huiyi Xu1, Qikai Zhang1
1State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
Skin epidermis is a stratified epithelium that composed of interfollicular epidermis (IFE) and hair follicles (HFs). Integrins are cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesive ligands that play important roles in epidermal cell proliferation, migration and differentiation behaviors. Here, we analyzed the expression of both α6 and β1 integrins. In vitro epidermal cell culture, both α6 and β1 integrins displayed downregulation upon high Ca2+ induced differentiation. During wound healing (WH), α6 integrin showed dynamic expression, first greatly upregulated in unclosed wounds and then downregulated upon re-epithelialization. Further analysis of different wound regions confirmed α6 integrin significantly increased in migratory cells and migration was coupled with differentiation. However, expression level of β1 integrin did not show significant correlation with migration. We discovered that α6 integrin directly indicates epidermal cell differentiation and wound directed migration behaviors with its expression level.
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